SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
Working in six-hour shifts, the firefighters remained on site throughout the evening to keep the fire under control, and it was not until just after 10pm that the last flames were extinguished.
DUBAI - Aug 17: Firefighters battled through the day and into the night on Friday to control a fire that ripped through two perfume warehouses in Al Quoz, causing damage in excess of Dh 1 million (US$272,000).
The fire started at about 7.30 in the morning in a warehouse holding Arabic essences and perfumes for the company Imani. Emergency services, including firefighters, ambulances and police, arrived at the scene quickly, but by midday the fire had spread to one of the neighbouring warehouses, which held similar products.
“We had the fire under control, but because of the wind, it started to spread,” said Capt Jumaa Mohammed al Basata, of the Dubai Civil Defence. “We were forced to smash through the wall in an effort to control the fire that had broken out in different areas of the warehouses.”
The fire was fought by a total of 28 firefighters and 13 pumps from five different stations across Dubai – Al Qusais, Satwa, Humriyeh, Karama and Al Quoz. Working in six-hour shifts, the firefighters remained on site throughout the evening to keep the fire under control, and it was not until just after 10pm that the last flames were extinguished.
The Civil Defence, however, kept a number of men and machines on standby at the scene throughout the night.
Because there were many flammable items in the warehouses, “we kept a backup team at the warehouse for the cooling-off period overnight”, said Capt Basata. In fact, firefighters were still at the warehouse on Saturday.
Dubai Civil Defence is still waiting for an expert’s report to determine the cause of the fire, although Capt Basata said that poor storing of the products may have been a factor. “From what I saw inside the warehouse, they were not storing the products properly, which can lead to fires,” he said.
Although nobody was injured, many of the goods inside the warehouses had been damaged irreparably, said Abbas Zagham, a salesman for the company.
“We supplied the products to the local market and this fire will really affect our business,” he said. “I am very upset by the damage done. We all worked hard here and it will take some time to rebuild.”
He estimated that “definitely over a million dirhams’ worth of damage has been caused by the fire”, which he believed may have been caused by an electrical short-circuit.
Throughout the fire, the sweet smell of perfumes, oils and bakhour hung in the air and clung to the clothes of those battling to keep the flames under control. Employees from warehouses in the area watched as black smoke rose from the roof and motorists on Sheikh Zayed Road could see the billowing smoke rising from behind the Mall of the Emirates.
Hussein Mandani, manager of one of the neighbouring warehouses, which stores tea products and rice, said he had received a warning phone call from the owner of the warehouse that was on fire.
“We came over as soon as we could, around 9am, to protect our warehouse,” he said. “Luckily we were not badly affected – we got some water damage from the water seeping in and smoke damage to the roof.”
The last large-scale fire to hit Al Quoz struck in March, leaving two dead and causing Dh1 billion worth of damage to more than 80 warehouses. As a consequence, Dubai Police and Civil Defence launched an awareness campaign to bring attention to the fire hazards in warehouses. The campaign focused on correct storage techniques.
“The programme helps owners and employees to understand proper storage,” said Capt Basata. “Before, they did not have any idea of the firefighting system and they wanted to know more about it in order to protect their warehouses.”
In conjunction with the awareness programme, officials have also begun training officers to improve their responses to large-scale emergencies, including warehouse fires.