Free fire safety systems for 6,900 Emirati families

The Union Cooperative Society has already covered the cost of 1,000 homes.

The Dubai Civil Defence will soon start installing fire safety systems in 6,900 Emirati homes, which are unable to afford installation costs.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UAE Fire Safety Forum, Lt Colonel Ali Hassan Al Mutawa, assistant director of smart services department at Dubai Civil Defence, said officials will link those houses to defence authorities in collaboration with Community Development Authority (CDA). "Losses from fires at residences are much more than losses to commercial buildings," added Al Mutawa.

The Union Cooperative Society has already covered the cost of 1,000 homes, where the installation of fire safety systems is due to start within the next few days. Al Mutawa expects other national institutions to follow the lead in protecting families against fire risk. The fire safety system includes an alarm that will go off when smoke is detected, automatically sending an alert to the civil defence control room.

Al Mutawa said the move comes in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to link homes and residential villas with the civil defence authorities' central operation rooms, to immediately and automatically alert auth-orities about any fire.

Al Mutawa said the team already installed fire safety systems in 700 residential homes, with further agreements agreed with residential areas and real estate developers including the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, Moh-ammed bin Rashid Housing Esta-blishment and municipalities to have the system installed as part of the built-in infrastructure.

"Fire safety equipment cost will not exceed the operational cost, ensuring no financial benefit to the government other than enhancing the safety of members of the society," Al Mutawa said.

Smart identity for buildings

The Dubai Civil Defense will soon install a new smart alarm system, equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI), that displays building records and information once scanned.

"The smart plates will be installed on Dubai buildings and towers with a code that - once scanned - will help us retrieve information about the property including its previous fire accident history, maintenance records and other data that will help us respond faster and better to emergencies," said Lt Col Al Mutawa.

The new system will also allow authorities to take the right prevention strategies. Dubai authorities are also studying applying AI in fire prevention, via developing new fire-resistant paint and furniture material that prevents flames from spreading until the rescue teams arrive.

Al Mutawa added that authorities already fully rely on AI for monitoring, through the alarm systems installed in 67,000 buildings linked to the civil defence control room. "Without any human intervention, we can detect any gap in building safety systems and send an immediate warning, which ensures a high prevention level," said Al Mutawa.

Countries worldwide treat AI with speculation in civil defence, given the serious consequences that can occur in the safety sector, where technology cannot replace the human aspect and bravery in firefighting work. "We take this aspect into consideration, but we believe that AI will play an active role in advancing and developing the rescue and firefighting scene in the future," said Al Mutawa.

Plan to include expats' homes

The Ministry of Interior plans to link old or new homes and buildings, whether resided by locals or expatriates, to the defence central operations within the next three years.

The project will connect residential and commercial buildings, homes and residential villas with the civil defence operations rooms through a quick-installed smoke detector that operates independently without the need for extensions. An alarm will go off for immediate evacuation of residents as a first response stage.