Register family members who need special assistance, parents told

Dubai: Dubai Civil Defence urged the public to alert them of any physically challenged family member in order to take the necessary evacuation measures during emergencies.

The reminder came following the concerns of an Indian father who had to stay in his flat with his bedridden daughter while a minor fire raged in a flat opposite theirs in Deira on Sunday night.

A Civil Defence spokesperson confirmed that a sofa in one of the flats of the Silver Home Apartments caught fire at 8.33pm on Sunday. Nobody was injured.

Gopal Sriniwasan, 51, a manager, said that though the fire caused by a hover board (a self-balancing two-wheeled board) that exploded was minor, the trauma it caused was not.

“The moment we opened the door, the hallway was full of smoke. There was so much panic and no proper information. People were shouting, crying, screaming, ‘Evacuate, evacuate,” Sriniwasan, who has lived in the rented flat for 16 years, told Gulf News.

Sriniwasan, however, couldn’t just leave the flat because of his 18-year-old daughter, Nikita.

Nikita has brain atrophy and multiple sclerosis, among other conditions. She had a tracheotomy two months ago and a gastrostomy last month. Only her right lung is functioning. She cannot move on her own and is dependent on a ventilator.

“I told my neighbour I couldn’t evacuate just like that because I had a physically challenged child. The neighbour said, ‘That’s your problem’.”

Feeling totally helpless, Sriniwasan decided to stay with his daughter because he didn’t know how to evacuate her with all her medical equipment. He said he advised Nikita’s nurse, Bina, and Varun, his 16-year-old son, to leave the building. But they decided to stay.

He said he tried contacting his building management for help but their phones were switched off.

Noushad, the building manager, however, denied Sriniwasan’s claims.

“I was there from the beginning until the end when we reconnected the power. We evacuated a lot of medically ill tenants with the help of other tenants and the public until Civil Defence (team) came. If he had approached me or Civil Defence workers, definitely we would have been there for any kind of help,” he said.

A Civil Defence spokesperson said their teams are trained to evacuate everyone, including people with special needs, but the public have to inform them.

“We have (the) smart house system and people can register [by calling 997] and link their information to the command room with details about their family members and their health situation in case emergencies happen. That way, we will know how to deal with them and save their lives.”

The spokesperson reminded the public that it is the parents’ responsibility to inform firefighters and emergency personnel about any sick or physically challenged family member when emergencies like fires happen. They should also have an emergency evacuation plan and teach their family members how to evacuate properly in such cases.

Even if the fire is minor, Civil Defence usually evacuates the building to prevent smoke inhalation.

He said it is the responsibility of building owners to request from Dubai Civil Defence to organise a fire drill every year.

For his part, Sriniwasan said everything happened so fast that night that he “could no longer think at that point”.

He said he will register his daughter from here onwards and urged others to do the same to prevent this from happening again.

How to register

Call 997 or go to the nearest Dubai Civil Defence fire station.