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Dubai: Smoke was billowing from a room, people were being taken out on stretchers and firefighters and security officials were rushing in. This was the scene at a hotel in Dubai yesterday. It was a mock fire drill.
The drill, which started around 11am on Tuesday, lasted more than one hour and tested the rescue capabilities of police, civil defence and the safety and security teams at the hotel.
Civil Defence conducted the mock fire drill and evacuation exercise at Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel and Towers yesterday morning to check the preparedness of emergency teams.
The drill comes as part of civil defence's annual plan for emergency exercises and drills.
Dubai Civil Defence had specified the possible threats during the drill such as the possibility of fire reaching the upper floors, having people trapped on one of the hotel's floors as a result of thick smoke and the possibility of having flammable materials in the premises.
Communication
The exercise aimed at checking the emergency plans, checking the preparedness of control and command, evaluating the coordination between various concerned parties, checking the field operations, examining the quality of communication between the participating teams and evaluating the arrival time.
The drill began with the report of a fire at one of the hotel rooms on the third floor. There were three people trapped on the fourth floor and one person injured on the first floor and another injured on the third floor.
The civil defence teams saw thick smoke coming out the window on the third floor.
The security and safety teams of the hotel informed civil defence about the fire, evacuated the guests through the emergency exit and began putting out the fire with basic equipment such as fire extinguishers and hoses.
Dubai Civil Defence's Al Ras Station received the report and teams arrived at the scene under the leadership of Captain Ahmad Kamidesh, the director of the centre.
The teams quickly set the priorities in dealing with the incident and sought support from other parties such as firefighting teams and air rescue.
The firefighting and air rescue teams headed by Major Hussain Al Rahoomi deployed four firefighters from the helicopter to the fifth floor to rescue the two trapped and injured people.
At the end of the drill, which lasted 45 minutes, a meeting was held among the participating teams to evaluate the drill and analyse the pros and cons and develop procedures further.
"Hotels face a wide range of emergency situations and crises and these plans try to anticipate most of those, although no plan could possibly foresee every challenge we face on a daily basis," said Thomas Van Opstal, General Manager of Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel and Towers.
Dubai Civil Defence arranged the mock drill, carried out operations related to the safety of people and properties and stabilising the situations.
Dubai Police teams were responsible for controlling the public and participating in the search and rescue operations.
The ambulance department was responsible for first aid and transferring of the injured people.
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