A short circuit in an electric kettle at a tea and coffee shop on the ground floor of Bailey Road’s ‘Green Cozy Cottage’ sparked the inferno that claimed 46 lives, according to the Fire Service.
However, their probe also found there was a gas leak in the building, which allowed the fire to spread quickly.
The stairs were also blocked by cylinders, preventing people from escaping the blaze. It was one of several fire safety regulations uncovered by the five-member Fire Service investigation committee.
“If the building had an exit stairway, so many people would not have died,” Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director (operations) of the agency and the head of the probe committee, said on Sunday.
The fire broke out at the seven-storey building in Dhaka on Feb 29. Restaurants and coffee shops took up much of the space in the building. Many people had crowded into the building for dinner the night before a holiday only to be caught in the deadly blaze.
Following the disaster, allegations of negligence were made against the agencies that approved the design and safety regulations of the building, including RAJUK – the capital development authority. The Fire Service and RAJUK formed separate probes to investigate the incident.
The High Court also appointed a high-level committee to examine whether residential and commercial buildings in Dhaka city had adequate fire safety measures and whether sufficient measures were being taken according to the laws and regulations.
The committee included members of the Fire Service, officials from the Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations, RAJUK, and BUET. A secretary from the Ministry of Home Affairs was appointed to lead it. The High Court instructed them to submit a report on the case within four months.
The Fire Service probe completed its investigation within the stipulated time and submitted it last week.
Lt Col Tajul said on Sunday, “The fire sparked from the short circuit of an electric kettle at the coffee shop named ‘Cha Chumuk’ on the ground floor of the building. Gas accumulating from a leak played a key role in spreading the fire. Within four to five minutes, the fire had engulfed the entire ground floor.”
If the fire was simply due to a short circuit or electrical glitch, it would not have spread so fast or been so large, he said.
“We collected video footage of the early stages of the fire and found that within the first four to five minutes, it had reached the ‘fully developed stage’.”
A fire has four stages – ignition, growth, fully developed, and decay.
The electrical fire first spread through the cables, and the probe chief spread. Later, it spread through combustible material. But such a fire is not that large, he said.
“In this case, the fire started from an electrical source and spread through gas. Initially, many people tried to put out the fire with fire extinguishers. A policeman was also present. But they failed because of the gas. By the time the first fire engine had arrived six minutes later, the entire ground floor was engulfed in flames.”
“If there had been an empty staircase, so many people would not have died,” the official lamented. “These are major issues with a building. It had only one staircase, which was, again, blocked by gas cylinders. We have found many issues with the building, including major ones like the staircase.”
