Dubai: Three people, including a pregnant woman, suffered minor injuries as a result of the fire which broke out at the 75-storey residential Sulafa Towers in Dubai Marina on Wednesday.
No deaths or major injuries were reported, said Dubai Police.
Thirteen people were treated by paramedics close to the site of the fire after inhaling smoke, said Colonel Yousuf Al Odaidi, Director of Al Barsha Police Station. “Three people suffered minor injuries. A pregnant woman who inhaled smoke was immediately transferred to Latifa Hospital and is now stable. Two residents suffered minor injuries and were taken to Rashid Hospital,” he said.
Around 17 apartments have been affected by the fire, he added. All inhabitants of the residential tower were evacuated within less than half an hour.
One of the challenges faced during evacuation was with an elderly woman who couldn’t take the stairs down from the 42nd floor, which Colonel Al Odaidi said, required Civil Defence teams to stay with her until they could safely help her exit the building.
He praised the efforts of the Civil Defence teams in dousing the fire and preventing it from spreading to other buildings. “The police supervised the process of letting residents back into their apartments after the fire was put out and made sure that their possessions were safe. They also checked the 17 apartments, which were affected by the fire. The process continued until after midnight.”
Experts from the forensic department have started their investigations into the cause of the fire, he added.
The quick response of Civil Defence teams and Dubai Police contributed to dealing with the fire in an expert manner, said Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of General Department of Criminal Investigation (CID) at Dubai Police.
“Police were quickly dispatched to the site of the fire and ensured securing people’s valuables from theft. They also closed down all the roads leading to the fire to protect the people.”
Civil Defence
The fire at the Sulafa Tower in the Dubai Marina was put out in a record time with no challenges faced, a Dubai Civil Defence spokesperson told Gulf News.
He classified the fire as “big” and said investigations are underway.
Some residents were allowed back in late Wednesday night.
This fire incident was not exceptional to other fires they have had to combat, the spokesperson said. “Firemen battled the blaze from inside and outside the building.”
In context of the building having two adjacent under-construction sites with the ground excavated that offered its own challenges to the firefighting personnel, the spokesperson said, “Wednesday’s operation had its own tactics. These are skills learnt in the field. Every geographical location has a specific plan for it. A fire can break out anywhere. It can be combated from one direction and another fire from five different directions.”
He said Dubai Civil Defence finds their way around any challenges, even in densely populated areas.
He added that 90 per cent of the buildings’ fire system in Dubai are connected to the civil defence.
“Every buildings fire system must be functioning around the clock. If the devices are not working, we are immediately alerted and within 48 hours, the building owner should fix it and make it functional or will be slapped with a fine.”
