The devastating fire that broke out at the cargo village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday was fully extinguished after nearly 27 hours on Sunday afternoon, according to fire service officials.
Firefighters managed to completely douse the flames around 4:55 pm, said Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director (Operation and Maintenance) of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), while briefing reporters after visiting the site.
“Had there been a direct or indirect detection and protection system inside, it wouldn’t have taken so long to extinguish the fire. The presence of a large amount of steel caused high heat retention,” he said.
A total of 23 fire service units worked continuously to bring the blaze under control, he added.
Commenting on the condition of the cargo village building, the FSCD director said, “The structure is definitely risky. The temperature inside was extremely high. The fire burned for nearly 24 hours, and such prolonged exposure to heat is not normally withstood by standard construction materials.”
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He said visible cracks were found inside, including on structural columns.
“While the building is risky, it’s not extremely dangerous. If it were too hazardous, we wouldn't have entered. We hope the building authority will conduct a proper assessment to determine the extent of the risk,” Tajul Islam added.
He also mentioned that a crack developed inside the building and that chemicals stored in the area posed some environmental risk, though not a severe one.
Two firefighters were injured while working to contain the blaze.
Although the fire was fully doused, four FSCD units will remain deployed at the site as a precaution, officials said.
The storage area was highly congested and packed with flammable materials, which hampered the firefighting efforts, the FSCD director noted.
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The fire broke out between 2:15 pm and 2:30 pm on Saturday at the import cargo village. It spread rapidly, burning down two of the three sections of the complex before reaching the chemical godown near Gate-8.
Flight operations at the airport resumed normally after 9 pm on Saturday, authorities said.
A six-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the incident, with instructions to submit its report within five working days.
At least 37 personnel, including two firefighters, 25 Ansar members, and 10 others from different agencies, were injured while trying to douse the blaze.
Despite being one of the most severe incidents in the airport’s history, no major casualties were reported.