Fire at Jute-Waste Warehouse in Konabari Brought Under Control After 90 Minutes
A fire has broken out at a jute-waste (jhut) warehouse in the Konabari area of Gazipur city. Two Fire Service units brought the Sunday night blaze under control after about an hour and a half of effort, but by then all the jhut stored in the warehouse had burned.
The fire started at around 7:45 pm on Sunday, October 18, at the warehouse located on the north-east side of the Ambag Eidgah field in the city. Because a huge quantity of jhut was stored there, the fire spread rapidly.
Local residents said that on seeing the fire they quickly informed the Fire Service. On receiving the call, two Fire Service units rushed to the spot and began work to extinguish the blaze.
The fire was brought under control at around 9:15 pm. Saiful Islam, warehouse inspector of Konabari Fire Service, said the fire had been brought under control through the efforts of two Fire Service units.
He said the cause of the fire was not yet known. As all the stored jhut was destroyed, the extent of the damage could not be assessed immediately either.
Jhut is a highly flammable material, so when a fire starts in such a warehouse it quickly takes a serious turn. In this incident too, residents' accounts suggest the stored jhut was why the fire spread so fast.
As the site is close to a residential area beside the Ambag Eidgah field, panic spread in the locality after the fire broke out. However, there was no report of the fire spreading to any nearby structure.
Local people believe a bigger loss was avoided thanks to the Fire Service's quick arrival and residents' prompt action. Because the call was made as soon as the fire started, the two units were able to reach in time.
No casualties were reported in the incident. As no one was inside the warehouse at night, the risk to life was low.
How the fire originated will be known after an investigation. Officials said it will be examined whether an electrical fault or some other cause was responsible.
Fires at jhut warehouses and factories in the industrial city of Gazipur are not new. After every such incident, the question returns of whether safety rules for storing flammable materials are being followed.
The same question has come up after this incident as well. Whether the warehouse had fire-extinguishing arrangements and what the real cause of the fire was will become clear in the investigation report.
