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Dubai: As the smoke made its mark on the city's skies and residents waited eagerly to find out the cause of the large explosion, brave men from Civil Defence took charge and faced the raging fire at Al Quoz Industrial area on Wednesday.
Gulf News spoke to some of the brave men who put their own lives in danger to bring the situation under control and rescue people and property. Many stated that their job was a national duty. Captain Othman Ahli, was one of the first people to arrive at the accident scene in his role as Director of Al Quoz Civil Defence Station.
Captain Ahli is the only officer who has been on the site from 7am on Wednesday until late yesterday afternoon. Gulf News spoke to him yesterday as he was getting ready to leave for a break.
"A huge cloud of smoke was billowing from the warehouses and debris was flying all over the area when I arrived to the site," he said.
Captain Ahli said his role was to spread the firefighters, help in confining the fire and provide preliminary information to other teams about the fire until support arrived.
"The difficulty which we faced was providing water sources, but we were able to provide water with support from all the teams that participated with us in putting out the fire," he said.
Captain Ahli, who has been working at Civil Defence for the last 10 years said the Al Quoz fire was one of the biggest accidents he has been a part of in terms of the large area of affected warehouses and the strength of the explosion.
Captain Abdul Rahman Bel Shalat, Director of Karama Civil Defence Station, was also one of the first people to arrive to the site. "I saw the thick smoke from Business Bay Bridge ... I arrived here and there was a huge congestion and the situation was unusual," he said.
Captain Bel Shalat said the teams who were on site when the fire started said they could not see each other or anything around them due to the thick smoke.
Experience
"For me, this was the biggest accident I had been a part of since I joined Civil Defence ten years ago besides the fire at Sharjah Port last year," Captain Bel Shalat said.
Lieutenant Khalid Obaid, Director of Deira firefighting and rescue department, said in his 18 years of Civil Defence, this fire was one of the biggest accidents he witnessed with the exception of Oasis Centre's fire two years ago.
Captain Saeed Al Suwaidi, Director of Abu Dhabi Technical Rescue and Quick Intervention Branch, said a large number of personnel and vehicles from Abu Dhabi Police supported Dubai teams in controlling the fire.
"Teamwork among all the teams was the key factor that contributed to controlling the situation," he said.
The difficulty which we faced was providing water sources, but we were able to provide water with support from all the teams that participated with us in putting out the fire."
Captain Othman Ahli, Director of Al Quoz Civil Defence station
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