A fire broke out on the rooftop of a four-storey building beside the British American Tobacco building in Dhaka’s Mahakhali on Thursday morning, prompting the deployment of three units from the Tejgaon Fire Station.
The fire started at around 11:11am on 10 September, when discarded plastic materials stored on the rooftop caught fire. The Fire Service received the report at 11:12am, just one minute after the blaze began. The first firefighting team reached the scene at approximately 11:28am and immediately began efforts to bring the situation under control.
Khaleda Yasmin, duty officer at the Fire Service control room, confirmed the incident to Channel 24.
According to Fire Service sources, the discarded plastic materials on the rooftop were the initial source of the blaze. Firefighters moved quickly to prevent the flames from spreading beyond the rooftop and affecting other sections of the building.
The building’s third floor houses an electrical substation, adding an element of risk to the firefighting operation. Fire Service personnel have been working carefully to contain the blaze while preventing it from reaching the electrical installation.
Officials said the rapid response had significantly reduced the risk of the fire spreading further. Three units from the Tejgaon Fire Station remained engaged in the operation to extinguish the flames completely.
No casualties have been reported in the Mahakhali incident so far. Details of any property damage were also not immediately available. The precise cause of the fire has yet to be established, although the initial assessment indicates that it began among discarded plastic materials kept on the rooftop.
The incident comes amid another fire reported in Dhaka earlier on the same morning.
At around 10:05am, the Fire Service received a report of a fire at a multi-storey building in Dhanmondi-27. According to Fire Service sources, the blaze broke out on the third floor of a six-storey building, where an Apex showroom is located.
The first Fire Service team reached the Dhanmondi site at around 10:15am, only 10 minutes after receiving the report. At the initial stage, the cause of that fire, the extent of damage and whether anyone had been injured were not immediately known.
The two incidents occurred in separate parts of the capital within a relatively short period, requiring emergency crews to respond to both locations. In Mahakhali, the immediate concern was to contain the rooftop fire and prevent it from spreading to the rest of the building, particularly because of the electrical substation on the third floor.
Firefighters continued their operation at the Mahakhali building as they worked to extinguish the remaining flames. A clearer assessment of the damage and the circumstances surrounding the fire is expected after the firefighting operation is completed.
