Despite being a permanent campus, Uttara’s Milestone School and College lacked adequate firefighting equipment, including fire hydrants. Nor was there any emergency exit system. Consequently, children, students, and others could not escape from the first and second floors of the ‘Haider Ali Bhaban’ when the fighter jet crashed on Monday (July 21). This resulted in a high number of casualties. The educational institution, which consists of a single-story, a two-story, and an 11-story building, does not have a fire service clearance either. Experts believe that the number of casualties could have been reduced if there had been adequate capacity to deal with fire-related accidents.
Not only Milestone, but there are at least 106 educational institutions in Dhaka that lack the capacity to address fire-related risks. This information has been gathered through the observation of the Fire Service, the first responder to accidents.
Sources say that Milestone School and College started its academic activities in 2002 at a permanent campus in the Diabari area of Uttara. The educational institution was founded by retired Colonel Nuran Nabi, who was also the founding principal of RAJUK Uttara Model College. The educational institution has academic programs from KG to 12th grade in Bangla and English. There are more than 20,000 students. However, compared to a large number of students, the educational institution lacks adequate fire safety systems. There are no fire hydrants and emergency exit systems. Portable fire extinguishing equipment is also inadequate. All these together had a serious deficiency in the fire safety system of the entire educational institution.
Fire Service Spokesperson Md Shahjahan Sikder told Bonik Barta, “Milestone School and College has no clearance certificate from the Fire Service for the Diabari permanent campus. No fire hydrant was immediately seen during the fire prevention operation there. However, some portable fire extinguishing equipment was seen in use at the educational institution. The officers and staff of the institution assisted us in the rescue operation.”
Not only Milestone School and College, but there are 106 other educational institutions in Dhaka with no fire prevention capabilities. Following several major fires across the country, including the Nimtoli tragedy, the Fire Service has been conducting regular inspections of the fire prevention capabilities of Dhaka’s multi-story buildings every year since 2016. Based on several safety guidelines, multi-story buildings have been identified as “risky” and “very risky” during their inspections. During these inspections, the presence or absence of emergency equipment such as emergency exit stairs, fire lifts, underground water reserve systems, risers, and fire hydrants is taken into consideration. Additionally, the Fire Service also examines whether there is a safety lobby on each floor as a safety measure in multi-story buildings and whether a lightning protection system is in place on the roof. Following their inspection, the fire service identified 106 educational institutions in Dhaka as being at risk in terms of fire prevention. Considering students’ safety, the organization has advised educational institutions identified as having a high fire risk to enhance their fire risk response capabilities as soon as possible.
Bonik Barta conducted on-site inspections of some educational institutions that are listed as “risky” and “very risky” in the Fire Service’s inspection list. When visiting BG Press High School in Tejgaon Industrial Area, it was found that the school has a three-story and a two-story building. There are 398 students, as well as 16 teachers and staff. Although each building has a six-foot wide staircase, there is not a single portable fire extinguisher. Additionally, the transformer and switch gear room of the school’s electrical substation are together, which is very dangerous in case of a fire. This institution, identified as “very risky”, has been recommended to increase its fire safety management capacity.
According to the Fire Service, the campus of Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, a private university in Sector 11, Uttara, is on the list of high-risk educational institutions. There are only four portable fire extinguishers in the six-story building. Although around 900 teachers and students regularly come and go in the institution, there are no adequate arrangements for their safety. Elite English-medium educational institutions such as Cambrian College in Sector 9, Uttara, and Mastermind School in Sector 6 are similarly lagging behind in ensuring fire safety. The number of portable fire extinguishers in these institutions is insufficient compared to the number of students.
Experts say that most educational institutions in Dhaka lack adequate firefighting equipment. Especially since they are educational institutions, these establishments have many times more people than their capacity. Although some educational institutions have nominal firefighting equipment, those concerned do not have an adequate understanding of its use. As a result, this equipment is not of much use in dealing with accidents. Again, there are many educational institutions that do not conduct regular firefighting drills. This does not enable the students of those educational institutions to develop a proper understanding of how to deal with fire-related accidents.
Debashis Bardhan has been a frontline firefighter for more than two decades. He retired as Deputy Director (Operations) of the Fire Service a few days ago. He is currently working as a fire prevention consultant for a private organization. He told Bonik Barta, “There was no fire protection system on the permanent campus of Milestone School. If the school had its own hydrant, the people present could have tried to control the fire. Moreover, the educational institution didn’t have an emergency exit. If it had one, a large part of the casualties could have escaped through it. Since the establishment was basically enclosed, the students were trapped there. Furthermore, such schools are supposed to have doctors, nurses, and ambulances, but they didn’t have them either. Overall, if the educational institution had adequate fire prevention capabilities, the number of casualties would not have been so high.”