ABU DHABI // Three firefighters were injured while attempting to extinguish a fire that ripped through a Mussaffah warehouse on Monday.
Six workers at the warehouse, belonging to Giffin Traffiks, escaped uninjured. They were in the process of moving equipment when the fire started in Mussaffah 13 area at about 11.10am and it took firefighters about two hours to put out.
The Civil Defence team kept the fire from spreading to other warehouses, police said. Investigations are under way to identify the cause of the fire. Two of the injured firefighters suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to Mafraq Hospital, police said.
The Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Department has urged warehouse owners and renters to observe storage regulations and ensure regular maintenance of fire systems.
Karim Nasser, a sales engineer, who was in the building at the time of the fire, said: “I was in my office conducting my daily activities when the watchmen informed me of the fire.
“It was coming out of the manufacturing part of the warehouse. I immediately called 999 and I kept them up to date of the status.”
Ramzy Nasser, the operations manager of the company, said: “There was some work being done to the scrap materials using the furnace. Something went wrong that caused the fire.”
The workers at the warehouse were third-party contractors and left the building immediately. There were about six people inside the building, but they were unhurt.
Last month, 10 workers were killed and eight others injured when a fire destroyed an illegal workers accommodation in Mussaffah.
The blaze started on the first floor – where warehouse space was being used for housing – of a two-floor commercial building that contained seven shops and a car repair business.
nalremeithi@thenational.ae

