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Fires raise concerns over violations of safety rules

SHARJAH — The Tuesday night fire incident which gutted 14 sections of a warehouse complex, in addition to recent fire incidents resulting in a cumulative property loss estimated at Dh55 million, has once again raised serious concerns over safety violations in commercial establishments in Sharjah.

There seem to be too many similar fire incidents, too often in the emirate.

Tuseday's big blaze in an automobile complex in the Sharjah's Industrial Area No 2 gutted 14 sections of the complex — including warehouses, auto repair workshops, and used car show rooms. Fortunately, no casualties reported.

However, a large quantity of plastic, spare parts, used cars and scrap stored in the warehouses costing millions of dirhams went up in flames, according to an insurance company.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Brigadier Salih Al Mutawa, Director-General of Sharjah Police said that such fire accidents usually increase during summer months because high temperatures directly affect various electrical equipment stored in such warehouses.

He also attributed the fire accidents to the negligence of fire safety and protection regulations, especially in terms of improper storage of products and materials. "In the Tuesday night blaze, Mutawa attributed the fire to improper storage of used cars in the complex which led to massive destruction.”

Commenting on other recent fire incidents in the emirate, Mutawa said that most of these fires broke out in warehouse or commercial outlets due to violation of safety regulations and lack of adequate fire protection measures being adopted by the owners.

"Besides, the existence of labour camps in and around such warehouse complexes also poses a threat to the labourers there. "Companies should not be given a licence to construct labour camps near their place of work or near warehouses." Mutawa said.

He stressed that the Sharjah police is currently preparing a report about such violations and safety lapses in the industrial areas which will be referred to the government to enable the authority to issue fresh guidelines to minimise the risk of such fire accidents.

Referring to the massive fire on Tuesday in the automobile complex, Colonel Gharib Shabban, Director General Of Sharjah Civil Defence said that the fire safety equipment, including fire alarms, hose reel pipes and extinguishers on the complex were found to be non-functional.

Besides, there was no watchman or security guard on the complex to use fire safety equipment fitted within such complex in case of fire.

He attributed the rapid spread of flames in most such cases to improper storage of flammable material such as plastics, petroleum products and paper.

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