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BARISHAL MARINE FIRE STATIONS

Understaffed and ill-equipped
OUR CORRESPONDENT, Barishal
The marine fire service stations in Barishal division have to respond to incidents of drowning and accidents on waterways often as the region has an abundance of rivers, canals and ponds.
However, they do not have adequate capacity to deal with numerous accidents taking place on the water, due to a lack of sufficient manpower, trained divers, and necessary equipment.
While there are two marine fire service stations at Barishal and Patuakhali districts, the districts of Pirojpur, Bhola, Barguna and Jhalakathi have none.
Belal Uddin, assistant director of Barishal Divisional Office of Fire Service and Civil Defense, said, “We need more divers, who can also operate firefighting vessels and boats.”
Of the seven divers available, three are employed in the office of deputy director of Barishal Divisional Fire Service Station, three in Barishal Marine Fire Station and one remains on standby.
However, one of the three divers posted at Barishal Marine Fire Service Station has been posted to Patuakhali station on deputation.
As such, whenever there is a call for rescue operation, they are not able to respond immediately, said officials.
Only 36 of the 42 upazilas in the division have land fire service stations. Of these, only three stations are under “A” category, while 23 under “B” and 10 under “C” categories.
None of the two marine fire service stations in Patuakhali and Barishal districts falls under the “B” category.
Construction of stations is underway in Muladi upazila of Barishal district and Taltali upazila of Barguna. However, there are no plans to build fire service stations in Agailjhara under Barishal and Rangabali under Patuakhali.
While the marine stations in other divisions have a manpower of 40, the Barishal station has only 15, said officials.
According to the Center for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh, Barishal division witnesses the highest number of drownings in the country. An average of nine children died of drowning every day in the division, said a 2016 survey.
Some divers, wishing anonymity, said the number of drowning increases during monsoon. They get three to four calls a day but fail to respond due to manpower shortage.
At least a team of four is required to deal with each accident, they said. One diver needs to be kept on standby, in case the primary diver is in danger underwater. However, often only one person has to carry out rescue operations.
Since December 2021, around 60 people died and 15 others were injured in three severe accidents on waterways in Barishal and Jhalakathi.
The ship Agnijoddha, attached to the Barishal marine station, was asked to conduct rescue operations for the aforementioned accidents but failed to arrive on time.
Diver Enamul Haque said after they started for conducting rescue operation during the incident of MV Ovijan-10 in Jhalakathi last year, their launch stopped working on the way, which compelled them to reach the location by alternative means.
“A firefighting launch requires a crew of at least five to operate. Along with Agnijoddha, I also have to operate another ship -- Agnighatak. Additionally, there is only one diver who runs three speedboats of the marine fire station. For last two years, we have no other diver who can operate the firefighting vessel,” he added.