DUBAI // Major General Rashed Al Matrooshi, director general of Dubai’s Civil Defence, said the number of fires so far in industrial zones are similar to the year before.
There were 50 fires in the first quarter of 2014, and 52 in 2013. All fires in 2014 were small. However, last year there were three big and three medium fires.
He said 89 facilities and buildings in Dubai had breached Civil Defence safety codes the past 18 months, according to Al Ittihad, The National's Arabic-language sister newspaper.
Maj Gen Al Matrooshi said inspection teams carried out 1,137 inspection visits and awareness campaigns in that time, correcting breaches in 71 cases, and completing prevention or safety installations in 89.
Warehouse offences usually related to random storage whereas other buildings lacked maintenance and periodic inspection of fire safety equipment and systems. As for new buildings, inspection teams registered breaches such as incomplete readiness of fire extinguishing and alarm systems.
Maj Gen Al Matrooshi said that inspection teams played an essential role in uncovering offences that could lead to incidents, and 14 specialised preventive inspection teams continued to monitor day-to-day offences that threatened safety.
He said a single facility or building could be fined for multiple breaches during a single inspection visit.
Buildings and facilities that failed to implement fire safety requirements faced a penalty of Dh500 per month until the problem was solved. After three months, the facility would be closed down.
In high-risk cases, a facility may be shut down immediately, and Article 11 of the Cabinet Decision stipulates that “upon exhausting all methods specific to the removal of a violation/ offence, the decision to close down the violating establishment will be issued and shall be valid until the removal of the violation or its causes”.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
