Fire station in every upazila: Home minister
We have undertook an initiative to set up Bangabandhu Fire Academy for better training in the country
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said fire stations would be set up at every upazila in the country by 2022.
He said at present, there are 436 fire stations in the country. New 129 stations will be built by the year 2022, increasing the total number of fire stations to 565. As a result every upazila will get a fire station.
The minister came up with the comments while inaugurating 'Fire Service and Civil Defense Week-2020' through a virtual conference on Thursday.
Kamal said we have been working to raise the ability of fire services. As part of improving infrastructural capacity, we are setting up fire stations at every upazila.
"There are 165 ambulances in fire service. We will provide ambulances for every fire station gradually," he added.
He said, "A number of 1,169 fire fighters have been trained from abroad. We have undertook an initiative to set up Bangabandhu Fire Academy for better training in the country. After launching the academy we would be able to train our fire fighters inside the country."
"Before our government came to power 10 years ago, Fire Services had only 6,175 employees which has increased to 13,100 now," the minister said, adding we are working to raise the manpower in fire services to 25,000.
Kamala said in the past, fire fighters were able to climb on nine floors. Now, they can climb up to the 20th floor of a high-rise building.
Shahiduzzaman, secretary of the security service division of the home ministry, and Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence Brigadier General Sazzad Hossain also spoke at the programme.