Seven warehouses gutted in Sharjah

Seven warehouses gutted in Sharjah Afkar Abdullah / 13 August 2013 Huge amounts of thick black smoke billowed in the Sharjah sky on Monday morning after a massive fire completely gutted seven car and furniture warehouses, with eight firefighting teams from four emirates needed to control it.   Eight firefighting teams from four emirates took part in the operation to put out the blaze in Sharjah on Monday. — KT photo by M. Sajjad Two workers suffered smoke inhalation, with one being treated on the scene and the second at Al Qasimi Hospital. No further injuries were reported but financial losses were incurred in the blaze, which hit old buildings in Sharjah Industrial Area Number 5. A Khaleej Times photographer said he saw about 100 cars out of a total of several hundred that appeared to be damaged as a result of the inferno, while nearby warehouses were evacuated and workers were told to leave the area due to the risk the fire would spread further. He saw about 50 firefighters and 30 police officers on the scene, handling the blaze. UAE Civil Defence Director-General Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi told Khaleej Times five firefighting teams from Sharjah, and one each from Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain were in attendance. He said the entire firefighting operation started about 10.30am and finished six hours later, at 4.30pm. Emergency services were still cooling down the area by 7.30pm. Sharjah Civil Defence Deputy Director Colonel Nasser Juma bin Hindi said the Civil Defence operations room was notified about the accident about 10.50am, with the fire spreading rapidly due to the huge amount of car tyres and other flammable materials stored at the warehouse. “Fire fighters immediately rushed to the fire site to douse the flames which spread to neighbouring warehouses and the rapid spread of the fire required the intervention of Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain Civil Defences in addition to water supplied by Sharjah Municipality to control the blaze.” The cause of the accident is being investigated by the Sharjah Police forensic laboratory, who were handed over the premises after the cooling process was completed.    – afkarali@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International