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Mega malls nearly unfit to fight fire

The Daily Star visit to 5 leading shopping centres reveals sorry state of fire safety

Helemul Alam
Most of the shopping malls and markets in the capital are running without proper firefighting equipment and expertise, posing a serious threat to the life and property of owners, tenants and customers.
Although a number of big shopping malls have some necessary safety measures, those are not enough for lack of trained hands and fire drills. Besides, these shopping malls also don't have modern equipment like sprinkler, smoke detector and fire lift.
These shortages and inexperience surfaced during a two-day investigation
conducted by The Daily Star into fire safety measures as possessed by five prominent malls.
Lack of fire equipment on the upper floors of many multi-storey shopping-cum commercial complexes also put the entire building under risk of fire.
The recent inferno at Bashundhara City Shopping Complex has however increased the level of awareness among different malls and markets and many are making preparation to conduct training and fire drills.
Lack of in-house trained personnel was the foremost reason behind the devastating blaze at Bashundhara City Tower on March 13.
During a visit to Eastern Plaza, it was found that the mall has some safety measures like fire extinguishers, emergency exits and hydrant system side by side with lack of proper training and drills.
Its upper floors (fourth to ninth) also have left the plaza under huge risk because of very poor safety measures. There was no extinguisher on any of these top floors, which house a commercial complex, and most of the hydrant system on these floors was out of order.
"We have a few extinguishers in the store room on every floor," claimed Engineer of Eastern Plaza Commercial
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Complex, Humayun Ahmed. He however failed to show any when asked to show the equipment and said he could-n'tdo it without 'permission'.
Masum Bhuiyan, owner of Arka Limited, a mobile servicing centre on the fifth floor, said their lives and property' are under threat for lack of safety' measures.
The emergency’ alarm of the Plaza is out of order for the last six months, said senior electrician Mohammad Ali adding they will repair it very soon.
Supervisor of Eastern Plaza Abul Kashem said they conducted a fire drill on March 16 and trained all their security guards about using firefighting equipment
"We are also considering drills with the help of professional firefighters," he added.
Like Eastern Plaza, Kamaphuli Garden City in Kakrail also lacks fire safety measures on the upper floors, which house apartments.
All the extinguishers, which were set up on different floors of the apartments, expired in August 2005, said general secretary of Kamaphuli Garden City apartment owners association Dr Md Nurul Amin.
The fire exit is very' narrow and two persons cannot pass through it at a time, he said.
Although there is a pair of stairs including an emergency exit at the 22-storey Kamaphuli building, there is only one stair apart from the elevator from third to ground floor. But this stairway is always locked.
General manager of Kamaphuli Shamsuddin said they would refill all the extinguishers in a week's time.
As per the Bangladesh National Building Code fire chapter, hose pipe, fire alarm, hydrant system and fire lift are a must for a highrise, says Prof Mehdi Ahmed Ansari of Buet.
He adds, the highrises should conduct a fire drill in every three months for smooth functioning of all the equipment.
The scene is little different at the 22-storey Twin Tower shopping complex-cum apartment building in Shantinagar. Although the building has fire exit, extinguishers and hydrant points on every floor, it doesn't have enough trained peo-
ple.
Alamgir Akhand, chief coordinator of security service and cleaning, said they will arrange a training programme including a fire drill shortly.
General Manager of Twin Tower Concord Apartment Md Nizam said they have started checking all the fire safety measures and consider receiving training from the Fire Service and Civil Defence.
The Rapa Plaza mall has extinguishers, hydrant points, emergency exits and alarm, but many of its staffs don't know how to operate the equipment, especially the extinguishers.
Moreover, the expiry date of most of the extinguishers set on different floors was over one month ago.
Wazed All, engineer of the Plaza, said, "We have planned to install smoke detectors and an overhead reservoir for hydrant system to ensure water during fire."
He said they have already refilled 50 percent of the extinguishers and rest of them will be refilled within one or two days.
He added that last year they arranged a fire drill for the market staffs and will arrange further training for the security guards and other staffs and a fire drill soon.
Some security guards of the mall admitted that they don't know how to operate the fire fighting equipment.
The Pink City’ Shopping Complex in Gulshan has firefighting equipment but the staffs are not well-trained for lack of fire drills.
Manager of Pink City Lutfar Rahman said after the Bashundhara fire they have started training for the security guards and will conduct a drill on March 26.
Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence Brig Gen Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah said mobile courts must oversee implementation of the Fire Prevention Act so that action can be taken against the violators. In that case neglect in using fire safety measures would decrease significantly.
He said every market needs to receive training on safety net from Fire Service and Civil Defence and should continue the training themselves in every month.