Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
Footage taken by Gulf Today showed the damage caused to the façade of a residential tower block in Al Nahda, Sharjah.
The residential tower consists of 49 floors, comprising 328 apartments. The fire resulted in 7 people sustaining injuries, who received on-site medical treatment, while 3 cases were transferred to the hospital. There was no loss of life.
Sharjah Civil Defence cadres dealt with the fire in 6 minutes, where the residents were evacuated and drones were used to detect people inside the apartments.
Preliminary information showed that the fire broke out at 9:04pm on Tuesday. All Sharjah cadres – from Civil Defence, central operations, police operations, National Ambulance, Emirates Red Crescent and Sharjah Municipality – were mobilised to deal with the emergency.
The operation was carried out in the presence of Brigadier Ahmed Al Serkal, Acting Director General of Police Operations, Brigadier Ibrahim Al Ajil, Director of Criminal Investigation Department, Colonel Sami Al Naqbi, Director General of Sharjah Civil Defence, Colonel Ali Abu Al Zoud, Deputy Director General of Central Operations, and a large number of senior officers of Sharjah Police and Civil Defence.
Sharjah Police officers discuss ways of putting out the building fire.
Al Naqbi stressed that all the Civil Defence cadres exerted concerted efforts to deal with the fire and bring it under control as soon as possible, noting that all the residents were evacuated before the blaze spread. This helped avoid serious injuries and prevented the fire from spreading to the neighbouring buildings. The Civil Defence cadres are co-ordinating with the concerned authorities to provide accommodation to the residents, he said.
A view of the building in flames.
The National Ambulance took part in rescuing the injured residents after being evacuated by the Civil Defence cadres; three of the injured were taken to Al Qasimi Hospital for treatment.
As soon as it received the fire report, the National Ambulance’s operations room sent 5 ambulances and a first responder vehicle, while the emergency plan was activated to deal with multiple injuries. This included activating the sorting and classification area and taking the necessary action in terms of providing the necessary first aid, and sending an early warning to the hospital to receive the expected cases. The co-operation, solidarity and speed of the respondents in dealing with the event led to controlling the fire and preserving the safety of all residents.