Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Thursday said a total of 129 new fire stations will be set up across the country by 2021 as part of the government’s plan to ensure that every upazila has fire stations.
The home minister made the remarks while inaugurating 'Fire Service and Civil Defense Week-2020' through video conference at Fire Service and Civil Defense Training Center at Mirpur-10 in the capital.
So far, 436 fire stations have been set up across the country. With the installation of new stations, the total number of fire stations will be 565. In addition, there are also plans to set up 11 more modern model fire stations in the country, Mr Kamal said.
The minister said that the government is working to increase the manpower of the fire service.
Before the government came to power, the total manpower in the fire service was 6,175. But now the number of manpower rose to 13,100, he said.
An initiative is underway to increase this manpower to more than 25,000, the home minister added.
Once upon a time, the fire service had the ability to put out fires and conduct rescue operations up to a nine-floor of building only. But at present that capacity has reached up to a 20-floor building, he said, adding that the capacity will be raised up to 22nd floor next year.
