Fire engulfs landmark Rangoon market
By Naw Noreen



"One of Burma’s largest wholesale markets, located in downtown Rangoon, has been destroyed by fire.

An eye-witness at the Mingalar market in Rangoon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt township told DVB this afternoon that the fire began on the fourth floor of the multi-storey market building at around 8.20am today. At 4pm Burmese time (10.30am GMT) it was still on fire.

“There are about four to five people on the roof above the fifth floor waving cloths. I don’t know whether they were trapped there or just staying there,” he said.

“Firemen are only dousing water from the outside because they couldn’t really go in…so this is not likely to stop until everything is burned down,” he added. “Apparently the fire is not spreading to other floors as there are firemen [on those floors.]”

Nearby residents have reportedly evacuated their buildings following fears that the fire would spread. The fourth floor is home to a number of cosmetics and drug stores, out of a total of around 4,000 shops and stalls in the market. Burmese from across the country flock there to trade and buy goods.

No casualties have yet been reported. A security official told AFP that one fireman man was injured while putting out the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown, although there are rumours of an electricity fault on the market."

Reference:

This is from DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma)which is a non-profit Burmese media organization basically in order to provide accurate and unbiased news to the people of Burma. It is about the fire outbreak in Mingalar Bazaar by the author, NAW NOREEN.

My opinion:

In my opinion, this is really serious and big event ever, happening in Yangon (Rangoon), in fire outbreak during hot summer. Actually, if firemen had at least enough equipments or facilities, they could went upstairs and could put out the fire while saving people trapped inside the building which was on fire.

And, I know what firemen are doing when they are supposed to put out the fire because I was there when there was a fire engulf near my home. They come without any water. Only after they get money from house owner whose house is on fire, they go back to get water, come back and put out the fire as if they were playing water instead of saving people who are in the building on fire and trying to put out the fire as soon as possible.

That is how Burmese fire departments work and it is all because of the government's unqualified system.