Dubai: Dubai Civil Defence completed 461 mock fire drills in the first six months of 2016, according to the latest statistics released on Sunday.
The fire drill and evacuation exercises took place at various sites in Dubai, based on certain evaluations, such as the possible risks in those places and also by looking at annual statistics which show the type of fires that broke out in different areas.
The initial target for fire drill exercises was 375 for the first six months of 2016, but they were able to completed 461 fire drills, they said. Up to 243,515 people benefited from the exercises and the average time for the evacuation exercises was 29.7 minutes, according to Civil Defence.
Around 3,778 firefighters participated in the exercises along with 807 Dubai Police personnel. Up to 1,007 emergency personnel from the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services also joined the drills.
The response time was 6.7 minutes and the percentage of satisfaction among those who benefited from the exercises was 98.3 per cent. Al Satwa firefighting station achieved the highest number of exercises carried out, with a total of 79 fire drill exercises.
As for the places where the fire drills took place, Dubai Civil Defence managed to carry out fire drills at 102 hotels, 83 government buildings, 75 companies, 66 schools, 51 towers, 35 residential buildings, 15 hospitals, nine shopping centres, seven banks, and seven labour accommodations.
Dubai Civil Defence said they put a target in place every year for the number of exercises to be done by each of the Civil Defence stations and that they also determine the number of people to benefit from the fire drill exercises, including the places where the exercises can be carried out.
Maj Gen Rashid Thani Al Matroushi, director-general of Dubai Civil Defence, who presented this year’s results, said the exercises are aimed at fighting crises and disasters in cooperation with certain stakeholders by designing a plan to cope with emergencies that may occur.
The plans are designed to deal with fire emergencies as soon as they break out and also how to rescue lives and protect people’s possessions from certain risks, he said, adding that the exercises also help prepare and train Civil Defence teams to be swift, which helps in reducing response time.
He said in the coming period, there will be more emphasis on hospitals and health centres, in addition to training teams of people at companies on evacuation skills and handling fires.
