Fewer fire incidents after homeowners in Dubai install smart alarms

The system, called Hassantuk, alerts the Civil Defence officials, reducing the average emergency response time.

A yacht on fire in Dubai Marina. Rory Reynolds / The National

The number of fire incidents in Dubai dropped by five per cent last year as more than 70,000 buildings are now connected to a smart fire alarm system that sends alerts to a central control room.

The system, called Hassantuk, immediately alerts the firefighters at the Civil Defence headquarters, drastically reducing average emergency response time.

The number of fire incidents in the emirate dropped from 322 in 2018 to 306 last year. The four minute response time recorded in 2019 also helped contain small fires in high-rise buildings.

Brigadier Ali Hassan Al Mutawa, assistant director of fire and rescue at Dubai’s Civil Defense said that 95 per cent of the fires reported last year were minor incidents.

“We’ve seen a drop in numbers after installing smart monitoring systems and connecting buildings with an immediate fire alert system,” he said.

The Civil Defence also recorded a drop in the number of fires that affected villas. There were 36 fire incidents in standalone houses as compared with 48 in 2018, registering a 12 per cent decline.

More than 2,600 houses across Dubai are connected to the smart fire alarm system.

There were 113 fire incidents in commercial units last year - a seven per cent drop from 2018.

Fire incidents dropped by 56 per cent in factories, 24 per cent in under construction sites and 10 per cent on dhows and boats.

“Our firefighters, modern technologies and public awareness campaigns have helped us,” Brig Al Mutawa added.

The Hassantuk system was first launched in November 2018. It will connect more than 150,000 buildings in the country to Civil Defence headquarters.

The initiative supports the UAE Vision 2021's goal of making the country one of the safest in the world.

The alarm system connects buildings and homes to a central alarm receiving center at Civil Defence in less than a second. The officers verify if the alarm is genuine within two minutes and alerts the main operations room.