Huge blaze in Abu Dhabi leaves 40 homeless

A huge fire in a residential building at Al Falah Street blazed for two hours in the middle of the day, leaving around 40 people homeless in an apartment block which had suffered a more dangerous fire several years ago.

by

Nissar Hoath

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Published: Fri 5 Apr 2013, 9:26 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 10:18 AM

The fire in the nine-storey building at the Al Falah-Muroor Road junction broke out at around 12pm on Thursday and caused major traffic chaos for over half an hour, while officials were relieved that there were no injuries or casualties despite the severity of the fire.

At least eight apartments on the upper portion, mainly occupied by families, were affected — with five completely destroyed.

According to Civil Defence, initial reports suggest the fire broke out in an apartment on the fifth floor and a broader investigation is underway to find out the cause.

The department said there were no casualties because of swift action by safety and rescue teams who evacuated the building.

Eyewitnesses and nearby residents praised the actions of the building watchman who they said was quick to help the residents leave the building.

“The timely action by nearby residents and the watchmen have saved many lives. Most of the residents were evacuated with their help before the arrival of police and Civil Defence personnel. The Civil Defence and police teams were also quick to reach the building and immediately cleared the building and engaged in putting of the fire,” said Pakistani resident Haj Khuda Bukhsh, who lives nearby.

Due to the fire’s intensity, it took more than two hours to put out the blaze in the recently-renovated building that suffered a similar fire a few years ago that caused several injuries.

Civil Defence head of Customer Service and Public Relations Captain Abdullah Hamad Al Tamimi said the central operations room received a call about the fire about 12.15pm.

“Fire-fighting vehicles, equipment and ambulances were deployed from three nearby centres immediately after receiving the report. Traffic patrols and police personnel were also deployed to keep motorists and spectators away from the area to prevent any hurdles,” he added.

Al Tamimi also added the rescue and safety teams were divided in two groups — one putting out the fire and the other evacuating people from the building.

“It was a big fire, and we feared it might spread further so we immediately evacuated all the residents, put out the fire and pumped out the smoke, that was all over the building, with special machines. There were also a number of people who were trapped and rescued in time. Thank God there were no casualties,” he added.

nissar@khaleejtimes.com