DUBAI, 4 April 2008 — In the city’s third major blaze in nine days, a warehouse storing chemicals and paints in Al-Quoz Industrial Area caught fire at 11.30 a.m. yesterday.
A thick plume of smoke enveloped the entire area, as police and Civil Defense teams brought the blaze under control in two hours.
Brig. Abdul Jaleel Mahdi Mohammad, deputy director general of Preventive Security, said an Indian national sustained 80 to 90 percent burns and has been admitted to hospital.
Yesterday’s fire was near the site of last week’s warehouse blaze, which killed eight people and destroyed dozens of buildings. A subsequent fire on Wednesday destroyed more than 14 buildings at Naif Market in Deira. Dubai Municipality has formed a special emergency committee to study the cause of the blaze at the market — one of Dubai’s oldest souqs.
Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of Dubai Municipality, has ordered the committee to designate a temporary place — preferably somewhere close — for shops gutted in the fire. He also directed the completion of the temporary market within two months.
Lootah also directed the committee to design and implement the project for the new Naif Market on the same pattern as the old one.
The new market would be constructed in eight months time and shops could be shifted by the end of the year. A team from Dubai Municipality’s Markets Department visited the site to evaluate damages, remove waste and complete investigations.
