Fire Alert

If it is said that the last week of the month December was a fire week, it cannot be wrong. First the fire in Karachi, on the 27^th December, 2014 put one of the biggest timber markets in Pakistan’s city Karachi, at stake. On the Saturday night, a fire erupted which took away all the building with it. The market is located in the Karachi’s Old Haji Camp.

It was just a normal day when this devastating event took place, shortly after midnight. Fire fighters were called soon after the fire broke out, but it took time for them to come. It not only affected the market but also the adjacent houses and other dozens of buildings. The fire was of category three and spread to the “Soomro Gali” and other nearby shops. The dense population around the affected area was evacuated by the emergency calls from the local mosque. Six fire fighters were performing their duties to control the fire. As it had spread to a large area it took about ten to eleven hours to have control over it. It was reported that some people are trapped in the building. The cause and reason of the fire erupt is still unconfirmed.

Fire fighters also reported a few problems which they faced while extinguishing the fire. The most important one was the narrow lanes and closeness of the nearby buildings.

The area has different small commercial storehouses for timber, which is used by the furniture manufacturing industries. The whole area was destroyed with the shops.

Just a day after this devastating event, another massive fire broke out in the commercial plaza of Anarkali, Lahore, killing 13 people and destroying several shops. An electrical short circuit was the cause of the fire in the Al Khalid Plaza’s fourth storey, which caused the Al Kareem Market to catch fire. In this Market the electronic items are manufactured and sold. Eyewitnesses reported that the fire erupted at 5:32pm and just in 10 minutes it took over all the building with it.

13 people along with a woman and a child were killed out of which 12 of them died due to suffocation. Seven of the dead have been identified so far but the other ones with the woman and the child could not be identified. The fire spread in just a few moments and many of the shopkeepers and customers were trapped in the building. DCO Captain (retired) Muhammad Usman also blamed the electrical short circuit for this conflagration. The Rescue 1122 spokesperson, Jam Sajjad Hussain, reported that 16 fire engines and 80 fire fighters were sent to the market for rescue of the people.

The problem faced was the same as of the Karachi fire fighters that the roads and streets were very narrow which made the rescue process very difficult.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif directed the district government to submit a report on the following incident within 24 hours. But none of the government officials or representatives went to condole for the incident. Financial compensation was also announced for the dead and the injured.

A high level team was also formed for the ensuring of the monetary compensation of the victims. The Anarkali Traders Union announced the market will be closed to mourn for the loss on Tuesday.

The problem here is that the fire can explode in any place but why it that the reason behind it is so uncertain. The electrical wires should be checked and seen if there is any problem. There should be fire extinguishers at every spot in the buildings and it should also be checked if there is gas in them. Security checks and fire checks should be performed regularly. On the other hand, there should be emergency exit points in plaza’s and markets. The narrow areas and roads should be reconstructed so that they can be made wider as well as the places where there is no such possibility there the facilities should be provided to the fire fighters. The fire fighters should be facilitated so that they have enough water supplies and have their engines in all places so that they can reach in time. The government should help out the people who lost their shops in such devastating incidents. They just have small shops from which they earn a living for their children and families. They are tax payers, they are not any defaulters, they don’t live like ministers, and they do not belong to higher upper class. They voted for you, they stood up for you, now it’s your time to give them something in return. Their demands are not too high. They just want a halaal income for themselves.

May Allah Almighty bless this nation and Pakistan!!

Ameen.