Dubai: A new research centre will be created later this year by Dubai Civil Defence to track and isolate weak points in the fire response system in Dubai, said a senior firefighting official on Wednesday.
Major-General Rashid Al Matroushi, director of Dubai Civil Defence, said the centre will help gather data to streamline the response system for better firefighting capabilities.
Al Matroushi made the comments on the sidelines of the 8th annual Fire Safety Forum, noting the centre is believed to be first of its kind in the region.
“The centre will analyse the negative and positive points in our way of fighting blazes in Dubai. It will enhance the firefighters’ performance and will contain best fire experts to study and give a full report of each fire. Despite the quick response in fire situations, we will keep looking to develop even more,” Maj-Gen Al Matroushi said.
The studies and reports issued by the centre will be on an interactive platform so fire departments from around the world can participate in the platform and share their studies.
Meanwhile, Maj-Gen Al Matroushi said that Dubai was ranked first for safety in a number of casualties in tower fires globally when they recorded zero deaths in towers’ blazes last year.
“Dubai became a unique example in fighting high tower blazes. Though we had some blazes in towers last year, we recorded zero death because of linking the towers to the command centre and installing fire safety equipment. The casualties in Dubai were from home fires not in tower fires.”
He said that 70 per cent of the fires in the world resulted from electric failure and the rest due to negligence and other reasons.
The Fire Safety Forum is the annual gathering of senior commanders and staff of Dubai Civil Defence and fire departments in the US, the UK, Hong Kong and South Korea.
The forum includes exhibitions from different specialised companies to demonstrate strategies and innovative solutions to protect the buildings from becoming an architectural nightmare.
