Dubai: Emergency response teams across the country had a busy 2011 dealing with dangerous situations of various kinds.
Civil Defence crews put out several fires through the year. The largest fire was caused by a leak in a natural gas channel in a building in Abu Dhabi's Mussaffah area that triggered a powerful explosion that damaged some 21 buildings and 45 cars.
There were fires reported on boats too. A fishing boat was totally gutted on October 5 leading to the death of its owner. In another incident, timely action by a firefighter saved the life of an Emirati man and his six-year-old son who were trapped with four others in a boat that caught fire as it was being refuelled in Al Marfa'a. The father sustained second degree burns and was rushed to Al Mafraq hospital.
Crane crash
In an incident highlighting the nature of the job for rescue crews, a massive crane helping demolish a building in Abu Dhabi's Hamdan Street on July 13 came crashing down. However, there were no deaths as a result of the accident although residents were left badly shaken.
A fire at the Umm Al Nar Refinery on June 25 was also brought under control without any deaths.
Poor maintenance was behind several fires. The central air conditioning unit on the roof of the 16-storey tall Al Saqr building on Al Nasr Street in Abu Dhabi caught fire.
Four Asian workers were killed in a major fire which broke out on August 4 at a warehouse in Mussaffah that included a labour accommodation.
Multiple fires broke out in a 17-storey building caused by a burning candle. The fire led to the death of three people.
The Civil Defence launched campaigns and issued warnings about the improper use of water heaters especially during winter and the serious consequences it could lead to. Significant efforts were also exerted to secure homes during the summer holidays and surveyed houses across the UAE as part of the Civil Defence's National Campaign for Families Domestic Safety.
Child deaths
The tragic death of five children in Sharjah motivated authorities in Abu Dhabi to re-assess building safety codes, especially those related to windows and balconies in high-rise buildings.
In Sharjah too, emergency crews responded to fires, besides murders and incidents during traffic jams.
In Dubai, a man who committed suicide by jumping from the 148th floor of Burj Khalifa after an alleged dispute with his employer in May made headlines. Another man jumped to his death from a building in Jumeirah Lake Towers a few days later, apparently for financial reasons.
The death of a woman who jumped from the window of her 8th floor apartment in a building in Jumeirah Lake Towers minutes after watching her son fall from the same window sparked calls for stricter building safety regulations among residents.
In May, an 18-year-old Emirati man drowned when he fell off his jet-ski after being hit by another. The man's body was recovered near the Palm Island, Jumeirah after a two-day search operation that involved police and rescue teams, as well as dozens of volunteers.
An Italian prototype aircraft that was returning to Italy after the Dubai Air Show in November crashed near the Deira Palm Island. The pilot and co-pilot of the plane ejected safely, but the co-pilot suffered a fractured leg.
Dubai also witnessed a number of fires with a dhow burning in the Dubai Creek in October. The fire, which was caused by a generator placed inside the first ship to remove water, spread to another ship after igniting 40 barrels of diesel. It also spread to cars parked nearby and some goods placed on the pavement near the port.
In November, a fire that broke out in a factory in Al Quoz Industrial area was put out almost four hours later. The fire proved difficult to contain as it started in an office furniture factory. Another fire that broke out in September at a blanket factory in Jebel Ali resulted in the evacuation of the entire area.
Tower blaze
The most significant emergency was when a fire broke out in the first week of November, at a 33-storey residential tower in Al Nahda that left six people injured. The blaze completely gutted 18 floors of the building. Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, monitored the rescue mission and sent out a helicopter to rescue four terrified residents from their burning homes.
In total, 150 families had to be evacuated from the building. Residents were left fuming as they were not compensated by the building's insurance company, and had also claimed that valuable electronics had been stolen from their apartments while tenants lived in hotels.
In May, a gas cylinder exploded in a shop on the busy Al Wahda Street, Sharjah, gutting over 10 shops and 15 vehicles.
