Fire at Kunipara slum under control

A fire broke out at the Kunipara slum in the capital’s Tejgaon industrial area on Monday evening. It took the Fire Service two hours before they could finally bring the fire under control at 10:10pm.

No casualties have been reported so far. 11 units of the Fire Service are working to douse the blaze.

Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) director (media) Shajahan Sikder said, the slum caught fire at 7:53pm. Just six minutes later, a unit of the Fire Service unit reached the spot. Later 10 more units joined the effort.

It took them around two hours and 10 minutes to bring the fire under control.

The name of the slum is Happy Homes Rolling Mills. Readymade garment workers, rickshaw pullers, construction workers and other low income people lived in that slum. There were more than 1000 houses in the slum, many of them have burned to ashes.

Fire Service director (operation and maintenance) Lt. Col Md Tajul Islam Chowdhury said, as per their preliminary assessment, they feel that 11 buildings have burned down. There were 50 homes in those buildings. There were also shops in the ground floor of those buildings. They also think the fire might have originated from an electric short circuit or from gas line. But the Fire Service is still not certain.

He said that it took longer to control the blaze due to traffic and the narrow roads. They also struggled to find a source for water.

On 26 February, a fire had broken out at the Karail slum in Mohakhali, Dhaka. Many houses burned to ashes in that blaze.