In our country, dry season lasts through the winter months spanning between December to March. During this period, people experience lots of fire incidents that cause loss of numerous lives and valuable properties. Occurrence of fire incidents is also a common phenomenon in the country's major cities, including the capital city. Fire hazards in RMG factories and small manufacturing industries located in cities and suburbs are regular newspaper items. Lots of devastating fire occurred in old Dhaka due to location of warehouses of inflammable materials in residential areas in gross violation of the existing official rules, resulting in massive loss of lives and property. Moreover, many buildings of this part of the city are used for multi-purposes such as residential, commercial and industrial ones that led to occurrence of the horrendous fire incidents. Chemical storage, gas cylinders, electrical transformers and faulty buildings are also responsible for the man-made disasters.
In recent times, there seems to be an increasing trend of destructive incidents. According to a statistics available at the Fire Service and Civil Defence, over 22,222 fire incidents took place in the country in 2021 damaging property worth Tk 330 crore and claiming lives of 2,580 people and injuring 12,000 others. Short circuit is one of the leading causes behind the horrific incidents. Loose connections, substandard wiring and counterfeit electrical appliances are blamed for the short circuit. Lack of awareness also leads to higher casualties in these accidental fires. The number of fires significantly increased as lots of people resorted to burners and stoves as sources of heat in addition to forming makeshift camp fires. Scores of people, including children, died in similar incidents while many others sustained burn injuries in those events.