140 killed in fire in last year
News Desk || risingbd.com
The country witnessed 26,659 incidents of fire last year (2024) and on an average 73 fire incidents took place per day across the country. In which 140 people were killed and 341 others injured.
A press release of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) disclosed this on Tuesday (January 28).
These fires caused damage of properties worth around Tk 447 crore and the fire service saved property worth over Tk 1,974 crore across the country during the period.
As many as 37 departmental workers were injured during firefighting and two fire fighters were killed while carrying out firefighting and rescue work.
During the firefighting operation, 34 fire service vehicles were vandalized and 8 vehicles were set on fire by unruly crowd.
The fire service said that out of 26,659 fire incidents, 9,069 (33.98%) were from electrical faults while 4,139 (15.52%) from burning bits of bidi-cigarettes, 3,056 (11.46%) from stoves, 789 (2.95%) by unruly people, 759 (2.84%) by children playing with fire, 735 from hot ashes, 704 from gas cylinder leakage, 465 from gas line leakage, 44 (0.45%) from gas cylinder explosion, 455 from coils, and 64 from burning fireworks/lanterns/crackers.
As per the available statistics at the Fire Service, the highest number of fire incidents occurred in homes/residential buildings in 2024. A total of 7,131 fires broke out in homes across the country, which is 26.74 percent of the total fires.
In addition, there were 4,513 (16.92%) fires in haystacks, 2,411 (9.04%) fires in kitchens, 1,887 in shops, 911 in markets, 481 in shopping malls, 494 in factories other than the garment industry, 236 in garment industry establishments, 211 in power substations, 153 in multi-storey buildings (above 6 floors), 150 in restaurants and hotels, 129 in KPIs and government institutions, 126 in hospitals and clinics, 123 in jute warehouses and jute mills, 85 in religious institutions, 84 in slums, and 78 in educational institutions, it said.
The country witnessed 268 fire incidents in vehicles, 114 in buses, 13 in trains, and three in launches across the country in last year.
MR/Mukul