Eight flower shops gutted in fire at Shahbagh

Eight tin-shade flower shops have been gutted in a fire at Shahbagh area in the capital. Fire service members were able to extinguish the fire completely around 11:20 pm on Saturday. They assume that the fire started from an electrical fault.

The media cell of the fire service said that the fire broke out at 9:53 pm yesterday. At the news, five units from Palashi and Siddique Bazar fire service stations rushed to the spot and joined the firefighting operation. The fire was brought under control at 10:55 pm. There have been no casualties in the fire.

Assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defense in Dhaka district, Kazi Nazmuzzaman told reporters from the scene that the fire was brought under control after an hour of effort. They believe that the fire started from an electrical fault.

This fire service official said there were helium or hydrogen gas cylinders for inflating balloons. So, they had to be cautious to bring the fire under control. However there have been no explosions.

Eyewitness Md Hasan said that he saw several flower shops burning on his way from Shahbagh intersection towards the Shishu Park. He helped everyone get out of there immediately.

A businessman affected in the fire, Monir Hossain said, “We had five shops, all of them are burnt down. All our dreams have turned to ashes.” When asked about the cause of the fire, the businessman said, “Most of the balloons are inflated with gas cylinders here. The fire could have started from there.”

At 12:53 am on Sunday, mobilising officer of the Fire Service Control Room, Rakibul Hasan, told Prothom Alo that eight shops have been damaged in the fire. The damage is estimated to be around Tk 100,000 (Tk 1 lakh). Some cash has been recovered from the affected shops.