What took so long to douse the fire?

Building-7 of the secretariat is right next to the main gate. A fire broke out in that building at 1:50 am Thursday. The fire service brought the fire under control some six hours after that at around 8:00 am.

Glass of broken window panes were seen scattered around the building at 9:30 am in the morning today, Thursday. The sixth, seventh and eighth floor of the building were on fire.

There was water all around. Some pigeons were seen lying dead in front of the building. The law enforcement agencies were not letting anyone enter the building.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, several fire fighters said they faced problems at every step while dousing the fire. They even struggled to get the fire service vehicles inside the secretariat premises.

The officials say there was room for only two turntable ladders inside the secretariat. Had there been more space inside, it would have been possible to douse the fire earlier.

There are five gates at the secretariat in total. However, there are only two entrances for fire service vehicles. The firemen struggled to get the big vehicles inside the premises using those two gates. One of the fire service vehicles broke down while trying to enter the secretariat through gate – 4.

They also struggled to get the vehicles out of the secretariat. Several parts of the boundary wall were damaged while trying to get the fire cars out.

Willing to be unnamed, a fire service official told Prothom Alo they had told the authorities concerned to extend the entry of the secretariat. How no one paid any heed to them.

One of the main reasons for the fire to spread this rapidly is that wood was as part of the interior design of certain ministries. The fire service told the relevant authorities to not use the wood for interior design. Despite that, they used wood for aesthetic purposes. Besides, every room of the secretariat was locked. They had to break the locks or the windows to get in.

Several fire service officials who were engaged in the operation told Prothom Alo they struggled a lot to conduct the operation. This is why it took a long time to bring the fire under control.

Home adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, adviser for housing and public works Adilur Rahman Khan, social welfare adviser Sharmeen Murshid and others visited the spot at around 10:00 am. They also discussed the problems that the fire fighters faced while trying to extinguish the fire.

At the time, public works secretary Hamidur Rahman Khan said the corridor running in front of building-6 will be demolished.

Building 7 of the secretariat houses various departments of the Ministry of Youth and Sports; Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology; Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives; Ministry of Labour and Employment; Ministry of Finance; and Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, the local government ministry, posts and telecommunication ministry and the youth and sports ministry were damaged the most by the fire.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, road transport and bridges ministry senior secretary Md Ehsanul Haque said, “All documents, computers and furniture have been burnt to ashes in the fire. A committee will be formed to determine the total amount of losses.”

An official from the ministry of youth and sports standing in front of the secretariat said, “I think it will be tough to recover the excel sheets of the budget. I kept my personal certificates at my office. It is impossible to recover my certificates.”

Besides, several significant documents of the administrative department have been completely destroyed, he suspects.