Bangladesh recorded 27,059 fire incidents across the country in 2025, averaging 75 each day.
The fire incidents caused 85 deaths and 267 injuries, according to a press release of Fire Service and Civil Defence. The release was issued on Tuesday.
Electrical short circuits, burning cigarette or bidi stubs, stoves, gas cylinder leaks and supply line faults were identified as the leading causes.
The fires resulted in estimated property damage of Tk569.97 crore, while the Fire Service managed to save assets worth Tk3,263.62 crore.
During firefighting operations, 17 personnel were injured and three died in the line of duty.
Among the 27,059 incidents, 9,392 (34.71percent) were caused by electrical faults, 4,269 (15.78 percent) by burning cigarette or bidi stubs, 2,909 (10.75 percent) by stoves, 920 (3.40 percent) by gas cylinder leaks, and 562 (2.08 percent) by gas supply line faults.
Other causes included incidents of gas cylinder explosions, chemical accidents, children playing with fire, hot ash, coal, and fireworks or sky lanterns.
According to statistics based on property damage, the highest number of fire incidents in 2025 occurred in houses and residential buildings. Across the country, a total of 8,705 fires broke out in homes, accounting for 32.17 percent of all incidents.
In addition, there were 3,922 fires (14.49 percent) in straw stacks, 1,800 in shops, 1,067 in markets, 617 in shopping malls, 665 in garment factories, 615 in non-garment factories, 483 in gas cylinder shops, 122 at power substations, 71 in multi-storey buildings (above six floors), 155 in restaurants and hotels, 152 in government offices, 34 in government hospitals, 25 in private hospitals, 72 in diagnostic centres, 122 in jute warehouses and mills, 36 in chemical warehouses/shops, 91 in slums, 25 in mosques, 9 in temples, 123 in educational institutions, and 62 incidents involving air conditioners.
Transport-related fires included 153 in buses, 216 in other vehicles, 10 in trains, four in launches, two in ships, and one in training aircraft.
According to month-wise fire statistics, the highest number of incidents in 2025 occurred in December with 2,724 fires, in January with 2,708 fires, in February with 2,885 fires, in March with 3,522 fires, and in April with 3,035 fires. During these five months, an average of 123 fires broke out each day. In addition, November recorded 2,237 incidents, while May saw 2,209 fires.
Most fire victims were men. Of the 267 injured, 197 were men and 70 women. Among the 85 deaths, 46 were men and 39 women.
Residential fires caused 77 injuries and 22 deaths, chemical accidents two injuries and 18 deaths, and the aircraft fire 116 injuries and 35 deaths.
In 2025, the Fire Service and Civil Defence conducted 1,071 diving operations nationwide, rescuing 70 injured people and 585 dead. The Fire Service also saved 296 animals, 30 birds and 229 other creatures during the year.
The services carried out rescue operations in 10,140 incidents across the country, recovering 10,333 injured and 1,756 dead. Road accidents accounted for 9,266 injuries and 1,038 deaths.
The Fire Service responded to 7,815 road accidents in 2025. Statistics show that 1,239 buses, 1,089 trucks and 1,732 motorcycles were involved in accidents. Bus crashes caused 1,934 injuries and 289 deaths, while motorcycle accidents left 2,190 injured and 193 dead.
Under the fire safety survey, the Fire Service and Civil Defence inspected 10,533 buildings nationwide. Of these, 3,316 were considered fire-prone, 622 highly fire-prone and 6,595 were satisfactory.
To improve fire safety, 192 mobile courts were held, imposing fines of Tk1.94 crore on 179 institutions and filing cases against eight others.
Public awareness campaigns included 15,865 drills, 2,078 surveys, 14,987 community programmes, 3,722 fire drills, and 4,345 training sessions benefiting 173,800 people. In garment factories alone, 3,921 two-day courses trained 156,840 workers.
Eleven courses trained 420 new urban community volunteers, including 43 Dhaka University students, while 33 refresher courses trained 1,039 volunteers.
