Demra warehouse fire under control, but structural stability raises concern

A fire that erupted in a warehouse on the second floor of a three-storey building late on Thursday in Dhaka’s Demra has been contained, with authorities concerned about the building's structural stability, hinting at a potential collapse risk.

Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Fire Service Incident Commander Lt Col. Md Rezaul Karim said the building in the Bhanga Press area had become increasingly fragile, with a notable decline in its infrastructural integrity. 

"A section of the roof has already collapsed, posing an imminent danger of further structural failure," he added. 

The construction of the building had disregarded safety regulations, the fire service official said. "There are no designated fire exits, and the entry stairs are excessively narrow… Moreover, the absence of water reserves within the building compounds the challenges," he explained.

“The buildings are tightly packed. The building just east of the one that caught fire is very close to it… there is not an inch of gap between them. Because of this, we have been unable to spray water from the east side of the building. 

“We did not find the water reserve that was supposed to be under the building. We did not find water reserves in the buildings around it either. These factors have made it tough for us to put out the fire.”

In response to a question, Rezaul said the fire service, after dousing the blaze, would be able to carry out an investigation and confirm whether the building had the necessary documents or not.

The fire, which erupted at around 11:30pm on Thursday, prompted the deployment of 10 firefighting units – later joined by navy personnel – toiling until 8am the following day to bring it under control.

The agency could not immediately confirm the cause of the fire.