Fire Service says Bashundhara City mall fire in control, area under watch

Fire Service has claimed that the fire that gutted a floor of the popular shoppers’ stop Bashundhara City at capital Dhaka has been finally reined.

On Sunday, the fire broke out at a shoe store on level 6 of the multi storey shopping mall and quickly spread to the nearby shops.

Although fire-fighters managed to stop the flames from spreading further, goods inside the affected shops were being consumed by a ‘latent fire’.

The entire building is now under Fire Service surveillance.

After fighting the fire for 10 hours, on Monday dumping started to eliminate threats from ‘latent fire’.

Fire Service control room officer Palash Chandra Modak told bdnews24.com on Tuesday that the process of dumping has concluded. "There is no fire in the building now."

Asked why the building has not been handed over to the mall authorities yet, he said that the building continues to be under surveillance and it would be handed over once the fire department is fully satisfied that it is completely safe and free from fire risks.

Bashundhara City Development Ltd Head of Marketing MM Jasimuddin replying to queries on the latest situation said, “The process of extinguishing the fire is over. We hope Fire Service will hand over the building to us today.”

“After receiving the building our technical team will decide when the mall can be reopened," he added.

He told bdnews24.com, “No one can stay up in the building for more than two hours due to smoke."

He said that since the mall had central AC, the smoke has not yet subsided although the fire has been extinguished.

“The smoke isn’t visible. But one goes up, one can perceive it," he explained.

Total 11 shops in the C-block have been completely gutted and at least 23 other shops were partially damaged, Jasimuddin said in response to questions about the extent of damage in the fire.

He added that the rest of the shops were safe.

However, Bashundhara City Shop Owners’ Association President MA Hannan said that most of the 100 shops on the fifth floor's C-block had been charred.

Most of these sold shoes and bags, he said.

He told bdnews24.com that the extent of damage could run in to Tk 500 million.

“Tuesday is a weekly holiday. On Wednesday, the shop owners will meet and decide on the course of action," Hannan said.

While the Fire Service has formed a five-member committee under Deputy Director Sujit Roy to probe the incident, MA Hannan said that they would form a separate committee as well.

“This committee will see if any of us was guilty of any negligence," he said.

The second largest shopping complex of the country has two buildings. One of them, the 19-storey one, used to house the Bashundhara Group’s corporate headquarters.

The other building, the eight storey one which caught fire on Sunday for the third time in the past seven years, houses the shopping mall and a multiplex on the top floor along with a huge food court.

A few years ago, on Mar 13, 2009, a fatal fire swept the top floors of the first building, claiming seven lives and injuring over 100.

Another incident of fire had occurred in the shopping mall in August the same year and another in September 2015. Both incidents had taken place on the eighth floor.

Asked about Bashundhara City’s own fire fighting measures, Jasimuddin said that 54 trained personnel are present at every shift who are drilled every month.