Dubai: An alert security team at the Al Khail Gate community in Dubai averted a tragedy by quickly dousing a car fire on Monday.
A Kia Carnival car that was parked outside one of the buildings in the phase 2 of the community Al Quoz caught fire around at 9:45am, witnesses told Gulf News.
"I could see thick smoke through my bedroom window. I thought there was a fire in one of the flats on the lower floors. But when I opened the window and looked down, I saw that a car was on fire," said an Indian woman living in the building.
Security guards in the building quickly made emergency calls and swung into action. Within seconds, they were joined by their colleagues from nearby buildings and some executives from the building security management team.
Risking the danger to their lives, the team used fire extinguishers to fight the fire. Though there were no flames, huge plumes of smoke emanated from the car’s engine.
The team used around 15 fire extinguishers taken out from the building to douse the fire before a first responder team from the Dubai Civil Defence reached the spot.
Two firefighting trucks, an ambulance, a rescue vehicle and two police cars also arrived soon. The firefighters cooled off the car’s engine that had caught fire.
The owner of the car, a Filipino expatriate living in the adjacent building, said he had parked the 2008 model car on that spot only some 20 minutes before the fire broke out.
"I had gone out to buy something and when I came back I found parking here. After about 20 minutes, I was alerted about the fire," he said.
Alert security team douses a car fire in Dubai’s Al Khail Gate community on Monday morning. (Photo: Sajila Saseendran/Gulf News)
He thanked the team that extinguished the fire. "Though my car is damaged, luckily nothing major happened, thanks to these guys," he said.
Sahar Nasser Al Ansari, senior executive director of Residential Asset Management at Dubai Properties Asset Management, confirmed that the car fire was swiftly contained by eight members of the community security team.
"No residents or staff were harmed as a result of the fire. The team successfully prevented the flames from spreading to other vehicles, keeping the blaze at bay until the arrival of the Dubai Civil Defence, whose prompt action is commendable," she said in a statement to Gulf News.
She said the Al Khail Gate Security Team [is] SIRA (Security Industry Regulatory Agency) Certified, and has been trained in fire safety by the Dubai Police.
"Additionally, we support our staff with regular Internal Training initiatives, as well as First Aid refreshers. We are proud of our capable security team for effectively dealing with the incident."
