Dubai: The Dubai Smart Civil Defense Readiness project was officially launched in Dubai today at the Intersec security and safety expo and conference.
Announced earlier, the project uses artificial intelligence to flag up potential fire incidents before they occur.
Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Council for Border Crossing Points Security, honoured Captain Issa Ahmed Al Mutawa, director of the Supervision Department at the General Directorate of Civil Defense in Dubai, for his efforts in providing the innovative solutions in the field of predicting fires and raising awareness of their causes to avoid their occurrence, as part of the project, in the presence of Lieutenant General Expert Rashid Thani Al Matroushi, Director-General of Dubai Civil Defense.
Sheikh Mansour officially launched the project at Intersec on Tuesday.
Capt Al Mutawa told Gulf News that the programme has received international praise and support represented by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), as the programme relies on the use of Big Data technology by linking it with government departments in the emirate of Dubai, and then analysing that data using artificial intelligence, and predicting the probability of fire accidents based on a database accidents that occurred in the emirate over the last five years.
The programme contributes to identifying the causes of fire for each region, nationality of people lived in that area and accordingly it sends educational materials in the form of short text messages to the residents in those areas to identify the most likely causes of fire in order to urge the public to avoid them in a way that prevents the occurrence of such accidents, emphasising the proactive approach dealing with problems before they occur.
Virtual officer
The department also sends messages containing a link, which activates an avatar of an officer who explains safety messages to people in 20 languages.
Capt Al Mutawa said the target is to send 5 million awareness text message in two years. For example, a month before the Indian festival of lights - Diwali - the department will send awareness text message, and the avatar will explain how to celebrate in safe way .
Lt Gen Al Matroushi praised the role played by Civil Defence employees in providing innovative solutions, learning about the latest global experiences and strategies, and employing smart means and applications in the field of emergency response and avoiding fire accidents.
The Civil Defence stand is located in the Sheikh Saeed Hall 5.
