Be Careful- Avoid Fire Accident

Fire is a common disaster which occurs often in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Every year a lot of people have died and we have to face huge losses because of Fire Accident.

Why? The answer of this Question is lack of concern and avoidance of building safety laws. Our research shows that High-Rise buildings are not capable to evacuate Fire out breaks, because people are unwilling to take appropriate engineering guidance, not familiar with and concern about fire suppression system and preparedness (pg 81- SAARC Journal-2010).

Among all fire cases recorded in Chittagong, most devastating fire broke out in Textile limited in Chittagong on February 23, 2006. Total of 67 workers killed in the tragic incident (www.thenewnationbd.com) it happened due to dearth of concern and preparedness. The preparedness is most important to avoid Fire Accidents. There are some examples of Fire Accidents those have occurred because of deficit of preparedness and concern.

While interviewing some people we got some crucial information and knowledge about what ordinary people think of Fire Preparedness. After interviewing them we got to know that there is a lot of misconceptions and carelessness among people about fire accidents. Our first interviewee was a university student, who is a victim of Fire.

Her case is like that- Due to electricity failure, she brought some candles in a congested washroom. During certain period of time her hair was wet by shampoo and she was quite careless about her movement and candles. First she caught fire in her hair than it moved in a curtain and as there wasn't any ventilation system in the washroom, so it filled with smoke. Then because of nervousness she threw the curtain far away and unluckily the curtain fell on the wooden door and that also caught fire.

After she was rescued from fire she received a wrong treatment in home. Instead of burn-ointment she used antiseptic cream which damaged her skin badly and besides all of that she got proper treatment after three hours of the incident. While interviewing her, she agreed with us that proper knowledge and some preparedness can at least lessened down the losses which caused by fire.

From another source, we found that- Fire caught whole house from kitchen because of carelessness and lack of preparedness. It's a case of a housewife, she left burner on and there was some clothes near to burner, anyhow those clothes caught fire and it escalated to wooden materials. From clothes and wooden materials of kitchen fire spread to the entire house.

It's an example of paucity of preparedness. If there was any fire alarm and fire extinguisher then it wouldn't turn into a massive fire burst.

To be concerned of these examples we can say that preparedness is the best to circumvent of Fire Accident. There is a lot of preparedness we can take to avoid Fire Accidents. Throughout the time of interviewing people, I asked them about their preparedness and concerns that how they can fight against this dangerous disaster. There is some information about what people think of Fire preparedness.

Source three: During interviewing the director of security in charge of a university we got to know that they are prepared to face any kind of Fire explanation. They have trained fire fighters and martial who are expert to fight any kind of Fire Accident. They have equipment like Fire Alarm, Fire Extinguisher, Water Supplying pipes, Fire Blanket, Oxygen Masks and they also train their students how to be aware and prepared for sudden Fire Explanation. They provide drill facilities to fight against Fire and how to evacuate the place which is affected by Fire. After interrogating with people and finishing research, we have come to a point that preparedness is the first and foremost thing to fight against Fire outbreak.

Source four is a nurse. She told us as they are not fire fighter they don't provide information of preparedness of before fire occurs. They only provide information and treatment, what a person can do if he or she is caught fire.

First of all she suggested there is different treatment for different kinds of injury. Like, In case of minor burning, she suggested to use a lot of water on burnt part of body. In case of major injury it's required to shift burnt person in hospital as early as possible, her or his treatment can be giving ventilation if smokes went to her respiratory system and needed to dress her and give correct ointment as early as possible. Then burnt area should be covered with bandage and clothes. It's the initiative treatment which has to be provided.

After research closely we listed some preparedness what we should follow:

There is three parts of preparedness. These are before Fire occurs, During Fire outbreak and a Fire Explanation.

Before Fire occurs the preparedness and prevention which we can take are:
(1) Every Building, Community and Area should have their own Fire fighting equipments,
(a) There are various kinds of fire equipment- Fire Extinguisher, Fire Alarm, Fire Blanket, Water Supplying pipes, Oxygen Masks etc.
Guideline of using this equipment is: We have to know- How to press Fire alarm, using of Extinguisher.
There is four kind of extinguisher. Foam Extinguisher: Applicable minor fire affected place. Carbon dioxide extinguisher: Can be used for extinguish fire of cooking oil and fats, electrical equipment, flammable liquid. Dry powder extinguisher: solid, flammable liquid, flammable gasses, electrical equipment. Water Extinguisher: solid like wood, paper, electrical equipment, human and animal body. Fire Blanket: Fire Blankets are for covering someone or something which caught fire. Fire Mask: Fire Mask is essential to get rid of smoke which is caused by fire.
(2) Every person should know how to use firefighting equipment and have a regular rehearsal on them
(3) Burner should be kept of after finishing cook.
(4) Everybody should be careful using of electrical goods, especially those which can be the cause of fire,
(5) Things that catches fire easily should be kept away from fire.
(6) Should not smoke in "no smoke" zone.

During Fire outbreaks some preparedness should be followed, these are:

(1) Press the fire alarm at first if the smoke detector is not working.
(2) Turn off every switch of electrical equipment.
(3) Cover mouth by clothes or hands,
(4) Evacuate the place as soon as possible.
(5) Use the stairs instead of lift.
(6) Not to go upper level
(7) Exit the Building,
(8) call the Fire Brigade,
(9) Not to go back in the affected zone for any valuable.

If someone caught in smoke the preparedness s/he should follow:
(1) Stay calm,
(2) Have to close every single entrance from where smoke can be passed.
(3) Cover body with clothes,
(4) Drop to hands and knees and crawl towards exit.
(5) stay low.

If trapped in Fire:
(1) Close as many as possible doors between victim and fire,
(2) Go to window and give signal for rescuing.

If fire catches clothes:
(1) Do not run,
(2) To roll around on the floor to smoother the fire,
(3) Only drench with water,
(4) Obtain medical attention.

There are some preparedness which should be followed after fire occurs
(1) At first we should take necessary steps as early as possible to extinguish the fire
(2) Measures the amount of losses caused by fire,
(3) If anyone injured badly take her/him to the nearest hospital,
(4) Additional help and necessary things should be distributed among people.

We can work in field level to aware people. like:

(1) Disaster Preparedness should be included in Text-Books,
(2) School and other faith based organizations should come forward to create awareness,
(3) Printing and mass media can go a long way in this case,
(4) We can paste them in billboards so that passerby can see them.
(5) We can talk about the disaster preparedness in our family.
(6) We can spread the message of preparedness through social media.

Life will not come if it goes. An Accident can be the huge loss for not only a person, it includes family, community even the country.

Being prepared physically and mentally is the only way to shorten the number of Fire Disasters. So, it's wise for all of us to know the preparedness guideline, make people know about that, follow the rules and show respect to life.