Dubai: The Dubai Civil Defence is in the process of acquiring new fire trucks that have the ability to pump water up to 32 floors, an official said.
Brigadier Ahmad Obaid Al Sayegh, Acting Director of Dubai Civil Defence, said the new trucks are expected to be included in the fleet by next year.
“The trucks in use now can pump up to 10 floors. However, we usually fight fires from inside the building,” he said during a visit by a delegation from Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters to Al Manara Civil Defence station.
The truck will have a stronger pump and will pump water and foam.
The South Korean delegation is on a five-day visit to Dubai to learn best practices in fighting high-rise fires and use of drones.
Young-cheol Yun of Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters said, “We are in the process of introducing drones into our force and we wanted to see how they are being used in Dubai.”
He said Seoul has many high-rise buildings but there is a move to build taller skyscrapers. “The tallest tower in Seoul now is around 69 floors, but they are now building a 123-floor tower and there are many plans to build 100+ floor towers. That is why we wanted to learn from Dubai’s experience, especially after The Torch tower,” he said, referring to the incident in February.
He said that they wanted to learn about The Torch tower fire because it was impressive how there were no injuries or deaths.
Officials from Dubai Civil Defence showed the delegation different types of equipment, procedures and plans. Yun said he was impressed by all the effort the Civil Defence puts into protecting residents and said it was “interesting that Dubai Civil Defence has special equipment for Dubai’s weather and environment such as the vehicles used for entering desert areas”.
“After the presentation today about The Torch tower, we are seriously considering following in Dubai’s steps and banning aluminium cladding. We might also consider getting a sports car fitted with firefighting equipment that is used by Dubai Civil Defence for fast response to fire incidents on highways,” Yun said.
Brig Al Sayegh said that they will be signing a memorandum of understanding for mutual cooperation and exchange of knowledge and experiences.
“We are open to any delegation who wants to visit, and we have had many international visitors. There is also a 20-member Kenyan delegation here in Dubai undergoing safety training for 10 days,” he added.
During the visit, Brig Al Sayegh showed statistics from Al Manara station. He said that the average response time to any fire should be eight minutes and the station’s average response time in 2014 was 7.02. In 2013, the station’s average response time was 8.06.
Also in 2014, the station inspected 1,235 establishments in the area covered by them. Al Manara station’s coverage is a total of 54km square metres of Dubai and covers 13,431 establishments.
