Nightmare goes on for Sharjah fire victims
After surviving the fire that ripped through the Al Baker 4 tower in Sharjah’s Al Taawun district in January, Khamis Badr Salam went searching for a new apartment that would ensure his family's safety
However, last week the nightmare returned to haunt him as he watched his new home, including all of its contents, go up in flames in the fire that gutted Al Tayer Tower in Al Nahda and reduced 102 homes to ashes.
Salam, who was one of the beneficiaries of financial help from the Sharjah Ruler after the Al Baker Tower fire had bought new furniture worth Dhs50,000 the day before the latest blaze.
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A family that lost everything in two blazes express big safety fears
A week on from the Al Nahda inferno, Salam and his family remain homeless. “My two young sons had not properly recovered from the memories of the Al Baker 4 tower incident when I pulled them out of their bed and carried them down the stairs from our 20th-floor apartment with my wife last week.
“They are now in constant fear after the Al Tayer Tower incident, it is hard for them to settle.”
He continued: “We are lucky that none of us have been injured. We were not able to save anything in either incident because my focus was on making sure my family were safe.”
Salam attributes both blazes to negligence on the part of building owners and authorities failing to properly enforce safety regulations.
The Al Baker fire was caused by a cigarette and investigations are ongoing into the latest incident.
“When I moved into this building a month ago, I could never imagine that it would suffer the same fate as the Al Baker Tower,” Salam said.
“It shows that residents of all towers in this emirate are sitting on a time bomb since none of the buildings seem to follow the basic fire safety standards.”
Salam is among several residents whose homes were gutted in the April 28 fire and are still homeless as the free accommodation provided to them by Sharjah Charity International ran out three days ago.
Salam’s family are staying with his sister in Dubai until they can find a new home. Many of the victims of the Al Nahda worry about the recurrence of similar incidents if authorities do nothing to ensure fire safety in towers.
“It is sheer luck that no life has been lost so far but authorities should not wait for people to die in order for them to act,” Salam said.
He says that flammable building materials such as aluminium and metal composite cladding should not be allowed for construction since they have been proved to be the main reason for fires spreading so quickly.
abdu.baasit@7days.ae
Comments
by rob1010101
Sunday, May 06 2012, 3:53PM
“I live in a one year old building in Abu Dhabi where the fire alarm system seems to have spent most of the past year disabled and dead.
Although that is probably less of a worry than the fact that the apartments are fitted with heat detectors marked "not for life saving use" instead of the smoke detectors that you would expect. The families in the building would all be dead of smoke inhalation long before such a heat detector set off an alarm ----- assuming the alarm system is ever back working.
But we are still grateful when we consider how many maids etc are locked up by their sponsors inside rooms in buildings all over the UAE that feature absolutely no functioning fire protection at all. They are possibly sentenced to an unpleasant death if anything bad ever happens to the building.
It really is time something was done, that buildings were inspected, standards maintained, records kept. A perfect job for a team of industrious Emirati youths with a passion to make their fellow citizens' lives safer. Just needs the authorities to hire them, train them and send them out.”
by Poonamsuri
Sunday, May 06 2012, 11:41AM
“A simple question has human life gone cheap ?? Not sure if the building owners will do much to solve or rectify this issue, looks like someone from the media will have to take a walk across the Al Taawun and Al Nahda area in Sharjah both these areas are where the Al Baker and Al Tayer Tower were located, you can see a number of buildings using the same material that was used in these 2 buildings. Who is answerable for this ? what safety and security does one have living in such buildings ? Rents around these areas are not as cheap as people think it is !! Someone needs to find answers to this.”
by gracaward
Sunday, May 06 2012, 10:29AM
“Our alarm system in Marina Residence Palm Jumeirah, is constantly triggered off every day, during the day and even in the night. It has mal-functioned for the two years we have lived here. Because residents are used to it, nobody bothers to evacuate or even check for fire. The constant noise of the alarm is irritating but it's also a potentially dangerous situation because if there ever is a fire, nobody will leave the building.”