A senior official with the emergency services yesterday urged businesses and property owners to abide by fire-safety regulations to prevent the kind of tragic accidents seen in the city this year. Speaking after the fire that killed 11 labourers living in an overcrowded villa in Naif, Capt Ali al Mutawa, director of the operations department at Dubai Civil Defence, appealed to owners to ensure their buildings had adequate fire exits and were equipped with proper fire alarms and extinguishers. He also highlighted the danger of leaving flammable materials lying in the open.
However, Capt Mutawa said that contrary to popular belief, there had been fewer fires in Dubai this year than last. The misperception stemmed from the fact that several high-profile fires, including those at the Naif Souk and several in Al Quoz, had occurred within a short period of time, he said. "Dubai is growing so rapidly that actually the frequency of fires that we see is not exceptional at all," he said.
Nevertheless, a series of serious, large fires in Dubai this year has prompted police to re-examine their tactical approach to rescue operations. The fact that the emirate is in the middle of a construction boom, with tens of thousands of labourers working on half-built skyscrapers, makes it even more important that rescue teams are fully prepared. A Dubai police spokesman recently admitted that a lack of communication between agencies had led to confusion during rescue attempts at the Al Quoz warehouse fire earlier this year.
In an attempt to solve such problems, the Dubai Police Rescue team - which assists Civil Defence in all large-scale emergencies - has been undergoing regular training on how best to tackle serious fires and other scenarios. "We are always looking for training and outside expertise to help us as Dubai grows, so there are plans in place for every scenario," said the spokesman. Recent training exercises had helped the squad to recognise hidden dangers when entering a burning building and to take appropriate action, he said. Their priority was always to remove people from the scene before looking for trapped bodies.
The fire at Al Quoz industrial area, which killed two people, destroyed more than 80 warehouses and covered the city in a thick haze of acrid smoke, was triggered by an explosion in an illegal fireworks warehouse. The blast caused what police described as the emirate's biggest fire and left dozens of workers injured. Businesses in the vicinity of the warehouse sustained damage estimated at Dh1 billion (US$272 million).
In April, a fierce blaze destroyed one of Dubai's oldest and most storied markets, devastating shopkeepers, ruining livelihoods and injuring firemen on a day that was branded "Black Wednesday". The entire Naif Souq was reduced to ashes in the early morning fire. Dubai Police Rescue worked alongside their colleagues in the Abu Dhabi division on March 11, when a 200-car crash on the motorway between the capital and Dubai killed four motorists and left dozens injured.
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