Tackling the too-common issue of home fires in Qatar, the Ministry of Interior has urged residents to take precautionary measures to protect themselves and their loved ones.
This summer has been an especially busy time for Civil Defense, with multiple fires occurring at labor camps, commercial centers and other locations in and around Doha.
In a post on Facebook this week, the MOI offered this advice:
- Ensure that all extension cords are safe and resistant to heat radiation, keeping in mind that some devices require large amounts of electricity (i.e. clothes dryers);
- Perform routine maintenance on equipment and devices in homes, especially in the kitchen, where grease and oils can accumulate in exhaust fans and vents.
- Keep children safe by covering gas cylinders and keeping all flammable materials out of their reach; and
- Store a fire extinguisher in the home, and make sure you and your family members know how to use it.
Previously, the MOI also warned residents to avoid overloading electrical sockets, turn off air conditioning units in parts of the home where no one is present and to ensure exhaust fans are not left running continuously.
Residents have also weighed in on home fire safety in the past.
Earlier this summer for example, one woman stressed the importance of A/C maintenance, after a malfunctioning unit nearly burned down her entire flat.
What advice would you add? Thoughts?
Insisting on adequate health and safety standards in labour camps would be a good start. The proliferation of fires over the summer is hardly just due to carelessness. Accidents will happen in overcrowded, underfunded accommodation.
Katie
I like it how DohaNews takes a Facebook post and makeس a 300-word article of it! I wonder if there is a name for this type of “journalism” 🙂
That Qatar sets up an independent testing authority and all landlords are obliged by law to have a gas test and an electrical test carried out on all the fixed electrical systems and portable electrical appliances for each individual rented/leased domestic dwelling and labour camp – the tests to be carried out every two years. The fact is that the maintenance of properties in Qatar is woeful, with many “quick and easy” repairs being carried to a standard that is often unacceptable.
Not to mention that the repairs are being carried out by people with zero training and minimal destruction. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Katie
I’m all in favour of minimal destruction. Though, to be fair, I do have days where I would support maximum destruction of select individuals.
*instruction
Minimal destruction should definitely be the goal 🙂
Actually Katie that’s the MAIN reason it’s so bad. And when someone comes to repair something you have absolutely no idea whether he is in reality a gasfitter or a plumber.
Landlords get away with “murder” in Qatar when it comes to maintenance. The poor Indian farmer that is my maintenance man, (plumber, electician, chippie, A/C expert and gardener…) just looks and stares when I explain a problem too him. I end up fixing stuff myself and that takes up my time.
The rent they charge and the service provided is woeful, especially for A/Cs which can lead to fire and death.
Again it comes down to no accountability, if the landlord had to pay compensation or went to jail for people dying in their homes due to substandard maintenance or the destruction of people’s property then things would change.