Never compromise with safety: a guide to fire hazard

Fire safety is the most relevant set of words right now given how many lives we lost recently due to its absence of application. However, is our concern adequate? Fire safety is the necessary set of steps taken to reduce the extent of damage caused by a fire.  Ranging from basic instructions like to not panic to critical ones like how to operate the fire safety equipment and how to properly evacuate a building, raising awareness about this matter has become the utmost responsibility of the professionals.

To avoid fire hazards, the foremost thing one can do is to properly store away any flammable material and maintain a clean environment. In light of this, Ashikur Rahman, assistant engineer at BracU commented, “It is unknown by most people that the university has a very sophisticated fire hazard contingency plan. We have contingency plans for three different levels of fire hazard. For electricity-caused fire, kitchen-caused fire, and wooden fire. Lately, we have trained our kitchen staff about the kitchen fire extinguishers. Creating awareness is crucial in preventing and fighting a fire hazard. ” Another very necessary step is regular maintenance of all fire safety equipment like fire extinguishers, fireballs, and blankets. It is also non-negotiable to invest in fire hazard training and ensure the building is secure from arson attacks.

 Knowing how to react in such scenarios and how to evacuate the building in moments of danger is indispensable. When a fire breaks out, the easiest way out is to panic. But we should –

• Call 999 to report the fire
• Try to contain it where it started, by closing doors and windows 
• Extinguish the fire, if possible
• Lastly, evacuate correctly i.e move horizontally or vertically to a smoke-safe zone and do not open a door that is too hot

The recent unfortunate incidents have left us wondering how safe we are on our campus. So let us walk through our available facilities. We have fire extinguishers on both sides of B block, all recently maintained. We also have fire extinguishing balls and fire blankets on one side and the fire exit on the other. In the D block, while one side has no safety equipment other than a fire exit, the other has fire extinguishing balls, blankets and extinguishers. 

The remaining blocks are located around the campus’s large staircases, and it’s quite simple to find fire extinguishers and escape routes. There are emergency alarms and fire extinguishers beside the exits on floors 6 through 12. They are located close to the restrooms for both genders, as well as close to any floor’s corner. Moreover, fire blankets and extinguisher balls are present in the open spaces located on the 6th to 8th, 10th, and 11th floors to provide additional protection.

The large staircases end on the 5th floor, and escalators are used for the remaining floors that are closer to the ground. There are multiple supplies mounted on the walls in front of the department spaces from the 5th and 4th floors.

A stairway that leads to the ground floor’s open space and more fire equipment is located on the 3rd floor beside the Office of Co-curricular Activities. Although there are exits and relevant supplies on every floor, the campus’s installed water sprinklers add a further margin of protection.

The meticulous administrators of Brac University have also placed an emphasis on providing all employees with the necessary emergency response training. The new campus is less at risk than our previous one at Mohakhali. However, placing the equipment far away from one another makes it difficult for people to access them at times of an emergency. We hope that all students will have access to all facilities in those events and that the authorities will take appropriate actions to guarantee students’ safety and educate them about such circumstances.