Qatar is planning to build five new, state-of-the-art fire stations around the country, starting with a station at the Pearl-Qatar. 

Construction on the station started in December, but a groundbreaking ceremony for the $6.9 million (QR25 million) project was held yesterday, United Development Company said in a statement. The station is expected to be up and running early next year.

Currently, the Pearl relies on emergency services from West Bay, which take an average time of five to 10 minutes to respond, Ibrahim al Sulaiti, United Development Company CEO said, as reported by the Qatar Tribune. He added:

“The new station will reduce response time to areas at The Pearl to less than three minutes, meeting the highest international standards of time.”

The new station would also presumably help emergency services reach residents more quickly because they would not have to fight traffic going into the island, a concern raised after last weekend’s hours-long backup. 

In the planning stages are new fire stations at Mesaieed, Wakrah, Lusail and Thumama, Brigadier Abdullah Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, director-general of the Ministry of Interior’s Civil Defense Department, told the newspaper during yesterday’s events.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by Omar Chatriwala