Dubai steps up building evacuation drills to prepare residents for potential fires
▶ Emirate’s Civil Defence seeks 75,000 exercises this year, up from 62,000 last year
Tens of thousands of evacuation drills will be conducted in high-rise buildings across the country this year as part of mandatory requirements to get residents to respond quickly, react calmly and follow precautionary procedures in case of a fire.
The drills will help train security staff and identify the number of children, elderly and people with special needs in towers who require assistance when a fire breaks out, said senior officials on the first day of the Intersec fire conference in Dubai yesterday.
Dubai has been set a target of 75,000 evacuation drills this year, up from the 62,000 last year that involved 540,000 people.
“The target is not just to get out as fast as possible, we want people to get used to safety procedures. We want them to respond in a calm manner during an evacuation so they don’t panic if it happens,” said Rashid Al Falasi, the assistant director general of Fire and Rescue Services at Dubai Civil Defence.
“The most important thing is to train the building’s security staff on how to guide the tenants out of the building safely without endangering them. They have to keep in mind the number of elderly people, children, pregnant women and children with special needs who need help. They also need to be aware of medical conditions people may have.”
Each emirate will have a target number of drills to perform by the end of the year. “Every emirate will do the same evacuation procedures because this practice will benefit us all. It is as an instruction from the general headquarters,” he said.
At least two drills must be conducted at skyscrapers. They must include an internal drill every six months and one that is inspected by Civil Defence, police, ambulance services and Roads and Transport Authority at least once a year.
“The mandatory drills will help them check their own capability,” Mr Al Falasi said.
There has been great emphasis on safety after five major tower fires in the country in the past six years that were fuelled by flammable aluminium cladding. Calls for stringent inspections were renewed after the second fire in as many years at The Torch tower, one of the world’s tallest residential buildings, in Dubai Marina in August last year.
Non-fire rated exterior aluminium panels were scrutinised after a major fire at the Address Downtown hotel on New Year’s Eve in 2016, resulting in the banning of cladding with a thermoplastic core.
Drones and nanotechnology are being used to determine the location and spread of a fire before teams reach the area.
Yesterday, officials said they were also working towards standardising response time across the country.
Globally, and in the UAE, emergency response times are between six and eight minutes, as set by the National Fire Protection Association.
A few years ago Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, called for a four- minute response for all emergency calls.
Involving citizens in safety is crucial, said Eric Yap, the commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
“Whether responders reach in four or eight minutes, it is already late. But with community education everyone can be prepared. Emergency preparedness is important even for pre-schoolers,” he said.
“If we can’t multiply the number of our responders, we have to best address this by investing heavily in training the population in order to minimise injuries and reduce fatalities.”