The Chattogram Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) in six years (2016-2022) installed a total of 174 fire hydrants at different places of the city spending a total of Tk 41 million as a source of water to douse any fire incident.
However, none of these have ever been used by the Fire Service And Civil Defence because of the reluctance of the fire service and blame games between the two government entities.
This issue came to the fore after the recent fire incidents in the port city.
The fire service has cited the low water pressure of the hydrants for not using these.
"At least four to five bars (the unit to count water pressure) of water pressure needed to use these hydrants but the water pressure of these hydrants is only one bar, which can raise water up to 10 metres at most. Besides, these hydrants don’t have any hose pipes and the hydrants don’t have the adapter to attach hose pipes either," they said.
Dinmoni Sharma, Deputy director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defence Department said the same, adding that WASA did ask for any technical assistance from them (fire service) before or after installing the hydrants.
He also added that the hydrants were not installed properly and cannot be used due to low water pressure and for not having any system to attach pipes.
On the other hand, WASA claimed that they had installed 30 fire hydrants in the city at a cost of Tk 1 million in 2016 after consulting with the fire service in several phases.
After the installation, the officials of the fire service verified its efficacy. Following that, some 144 more hydrants were installed accordingly.
Mohammed Ariful Islam, superintending engineer (planning and construction) of Chattogram WASA, said, "While setting up the hydrants, we worked with the fire service. After a trial run, we handed the hydrants to the fire service after the completion of the project."
Meanwhile, Maksud Alam, Chief engineer of Chattogram WASA claimed that the hydrants were installed following different models of hydrants used in advanced countries. They also consulted the fire service in 10 joint meetings even after the completion of the project.
While answering the questions regarding the low water pressure and adapters needed to use the hydrants, Maksud Alam said around Tk 5,000-7,000 is needed to make an adapter. The fire service will have to bear this cost. And it’s completely impossible for WASA to provide water in these hydrants at a pressure of four bar. The fire service has their own pumps that they use for increasing pressure to bring water from various sources in case of a fire.
Rashidul Hasan, dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) feels the hydrants cannot be used due to the lack of coordination between the two agencies.
The fire service says the losses from fire are increasing as the number of water sources in the city is declining rapidly. The fire service recorded a total of 7,111 fire incidents in the district over the last five years resulting in a loss worth Tk 739.8 million.
News agencies/SA
