New Year begins with fire caused by sky lanterns

• Fires broke out at 7 places in Dhaka on Friday
• No casualties reported in the blaze
• At Demra, a fire incident caused loss of Tk20,000
• A fire in Dholaikhal caused a loss of Tk1.5 lakh
• On Friday night, 999 received calls about fires originated from flying lanterns

Abdur Razzak Raju, a resident of Sector-14 of Uttara in the capital, lives on the 7th floor of a 14-storey building. On Friday night, he checked the kitchen stove as usual and went to bed. Suddenly at 3am, heavy heat and blistering sounds woke him up.

He rushed to the kitchen and saw the gas spreading from the stove. As he was not sure if the fire fighters would reach in time at this hour of the night, he took a risk and turned off the switch of the gas connection. Gradually, the fire doused.

Abdur Razzak told TBS the south-facing window of the kitchen is beside the stove. A sky lantern got stuck with the window and the plastic gas connection pipe caught fire. Presumably, the fire was burning for about an hour and a half.

"The gas stove exploded. The tiles on the kitchen walls were shattered. If the fire could not have been extinguished immediately it might have spread and become more devastating," he added.

According to the Fire Service and Civil Defence, fires broke out at seven different places in the capital during the New Year celebration on Friday. However, no casualties were reported in the blaze.

A terrible fire was reported on the rooftop of a building in Matuail that originated from a sky lantern. 

Osman Gani, a senior station officer at Demra Fire Service Station, told TBS there were plastic items on the roof of a three-storey building. A lantern fell on the roof, caught fire and spread very fast. The fire was brought under control by two units of the fire station.

There was no casualty as everyone moved quickly after the fire. However, the accident caused an estimated loss of Tk20,000.

Fires also broke out in Matuail, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Khilgaon, Demra, Sutrapur, Lalbagh, Uttara and Keraniganj in Dhaka, of which the fire incidents in Matuail and Dholaikhal was terrible. The fire at Dholaikhal caused a loss of Tk1.5 lakh, Lima Khanam, duty officer of the fire service control room, told TBS.

Anwar Sattar, an inspector with the National Emergency Service, 999, told TBS they received calls about fires and all of them originated from sky lanterns.

The Fire Service and Civil Defence recorded 723 fires from 2015-2020 due to firecrackers and fireworks in different festivals. In the last six years, the number of fires caused by sky lanterns was very few, which increased in this New Year celebration dramatically.

Deputy Director of Fire Service (Dhaka) Dinmoni Sharma told TBS this year the highest number of sky lanterns were flown so the fire broke out in many areas. 

Hafiz Al Asad, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Public Relations and Media Branch, told TBS despite various restrictions, Dhaka dwellers have flown sky lanterns. Specific complaints to us regarding the incidents will be acted upon.