After tragedy, a community searches for a way forward

▶ Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid has taken the first step in instigating a culture of fire safety

It would take a heart of stone not to have been moved by the tragic deaths of seven siblings in a house fire. In one fell swoop, the Al Suraidi children were wiped out, with their heartbroken mother now contemplating a future of unimaginable grief and pain. Fire devastates lives and never more so than on Monday, when four boys and three girls were overcome by toxic fumes after a blaze caused by an electrical fault broke out in the room next to where they were sleeping. All seven children were buried the same day in Fujairah.

It is hard to see how the community could ever see a way forward from such a calamity. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, appeared to offer it with his online message: “Whatever harms the children of the UAE harms the entire nation.” He announced plans to fit 60,000 villas owned by Emiratis with fire detection systems linking directly to Civil Defence control rooms, which will alert firefighters at the first sign of homes filling with the poisonous carbon monoxide.

The move follows a number of blazes in Dubai, sparking concerns about the type of flammable cladding used, which meant the fires tore rapidly through the buildings. We have already seen from the Grenfell Tower fire in London what impact that can have.

It takes very little to start a fire but without the enforcement of the UAE’s Fire and Life Safety Code, the effect can be devastating. In a country with a high rental market, it behoves landlords and commercial property owners to ensure buildings are properly equipped with alarms and smoke detectors and undergo regular checks and third party independent inspections, as per the law.

Sheikh Mohammed’s gesture is a decisive step in instigating a culture of fire safety. It might be too late for Shouq, Khalifa, Ahmad, Ali, Sheikha, Sara and Summaya, but we could all do with being a little more aware as to how best to protect ourselves in an emergency.