Civil Defence to set up two new centres next year

Dubai Civil Defence will set up two new centres next year in Al Quoz and Ras Al Khor to keep up with the needs of the expanding city.

According to Maj. Mohammed Abdulla bin Naseeb, Head of the Fire Stations Department, the buildings have been completed but they are yet to be equipped as the equipment has to be custom built.

He said the department has recruited more than 70 personnel for the centres. They completed training in March. "They are currently placed in the other centres to get hands on experience. After the centres open we will transfer some senior firefighters to work there, as we cannot staff a centre with only fresh recruits."

The new centres will support the six currently in place in Jumeirah, Satwa, Rashidiya, Ghusais, Hamriya, and Karama.

The Al Quoz centre will cover the adjacent industrial area in addition to the areas surrounding Sheikh Zayed road up to Jebel Ali. This area has developed rapidly during the past few years and has put a lot of pressure on the Jumeirah centre. Thus, the Jumeirah centre has the highest number of incidents reported in the emirate, he said. "This centre will help a lot in cutting down the response time for that particular area, which is very important because of the industrial area," he said.

As for the Ras Al Khor centre, Maj. Bin Naseeb said that its area is small because of the lack of space in the vicinity. The centre is located in the heritage area near the Gold Souq in Deira.

"That area is a vital commercial hub, very congested, with lots of narrow lanes and old buildings which are clustered in small rows," he said. Taking that into consideration they plan to have smaller firefighting vehicles stationed here so that they can access any area quickly.

"Earlier, the area was covered by the civil defence centres in Karama and Hamriya and the problems we faced were many. The traffic jams used to impede the firefighting operation."