Abu Dhabi: About 139 people from 29 families were left homeless after Saturday's fire that gutted an eight-storey building on Airport Road, a Fire Department spokesman said yesterday.
Abu Dhabi police social support centre's director Brigadier Najm Abdullah Al Hosani told Gulf News: "All the 139 people have been provided with hotel accommodation and food by the government."
He said the humanitarian gesture was on the instructions of Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
Nine people sustained minor to moderate injuries in the fire, which erupted on Saturday around 3.30pm in the Awafi Trading building. Six other victims were treated on site. There were no fatalities, and injuries were due to smoke inhalation, police said.
Trained officials
It took firefighters three hours and 48 minutes to put out the blaze.
Four floors of the building and as many as 10 vehicles parked nearby were damaged — some significantly, Abu Dhabi police said. Some of the vehicles were completely gutted.
Al Hosani said: "A team of trained officials from the centre provided the families with psychological support at the scene to help ease the stress." The support centre is called in to help whenever a major fire is reported.
"We also visited the three victims who were hospitalised," he said.
"Thanks to the timely intervention by the fire and rescue teams there were no fatalities. The injuries were due to smoke inhalation, not burns," he said.
The support centre, community police, Red Crescent and Al Khalidiya police station are working together to provide iftar and suhour meals to the families until they can return home.
Community Police head Captain Haji Mabkhout Menhali said the presence of the community police contributed significantly in providing psychological, moral and social support to those who were affected by the fire.
Co-operation between the police and the community members also helped reduce the loss, he said.
A total of 14 fire engines, 12 pumps, seven ambulances, helicopters, seven civil defence stations, plus crime scene investigators and personnel from the criminal investigations department worked together to bring the blaze under control. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined but investigators confirmed that it began in the ground floor and quickly spread to the upper floors.
