Fire-fighting motorbikes lie idle in Barishal for lack of repairs

The 70 fire-fighting motorcycles supplied to the Barishal Fire Service and Civil Defence station have been gathering dust for five years after they went out of order for lack of maintenance.

Unavailability of spare parts and absence of maintenance expertise among local technicians have rendered the Tk5.5 crore property, Tk8 lakh each, useless, according to fire officials.

In 2017, the China government donated the 250cc motorcycles, with the capacity of carrying 39 litres of water and 30 yards of pipe, to Bangladesh for quick response to fire incidents.

The Barishal fire service succeeded in handling some 250 fire incidents in the first 6 months. But the motorbikes gradually became unusable after 2019 due to battery and other problems, fire officials added.

They said representatives of the donor organisation came twice to Barishal to repair them and no such attempts have been visible in the last five years.  

During their first visit, the technicians stopped the repair after fixing five to seven of the bikes, saying they did not have repair materials any more.

Bashir, a fire service worker, said, "The batteries of these motorcycles do not last long. They are not similar to those used in motorcycles operating in Bangladesh."

"Even though the workers have been trained to operate these motorcycles, we don't know how to repair them," he added.

However, Rabiul Al Amin, senior officer at the Barisal Fire Service and Civil Defence station, claimed that fire service personnel from all over the country were trained to manage the motorbikes.

Md Belal Uddin, assistant director at the station, said, "These bikes are helpful for quick and good response in case of any fire incident. Currently, all are down. A process is on to make them functional again."