Fire at BIWTA warehouse doused after 6 hours

A massive fire that broke out at a warehouse of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) in Narayanganj this afternoon was doused after six hours.

After the fire broke out around 12:45pm, seven fire engines doused the blaze around 7:30pm reports our Narayanganj correspondent quoting Fakruddin Ahammad, deputy assistant director of Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Extensive damage was avoided as the fire could not spread, said officials of BIWTA.

According to eyewitnesses and BIWTA officials, the fire broke out in abandoned pipes stacked on the south side of the warehouse around 12:45pm. These pipes are mainly used in ships for dredging.

Initially, the people inside the warehouse tried to extinguish the fire but failed and informed the fire service.

Photo: Saurav Hossain

Anwarul Haque, assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, Dhaka said that after receiving the news at 1:18pm, a firefighting team reached the spot within five minutes and started to put out the fire.

"Since the pipes are made with rubber and plastic, it took time to bring the blaze under control," he added.

The source of the fire has not yet been identified, which can be known after an investigation, the fire official added.

However, no casualties were reported in the incident, he said.

An investigation committee will be formed to find out how the fire started, Rafiul Hasain, member )finance) of BIWTA told this newspaper.

"There are plans to build a terminal at the site where the fire broke out. For this reason the surroundings were kept clean before. But the fire broke out in some abandoned pipes which could not be moved due to their heavy weight," he added.

In November 2018, a similar fire broke out at the BIWTA warehouse in Narayanganj which caused extensive damage.