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Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi inaugurating the new Civil Defence branch at The
The General Directorate of Civil Defence (GDCD) yesterday inaugurated its new branch at The Pearl-Qatar, United Development Company (UDC)’s flagship island development. |
The inaugural ceremony that took place yesterday morning was attended by high-level government and Civil Defence officials headed by Director-General of Public Security Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi, besides a delegation of senior UDC executives headed by chairman of the Board of Directors Turki bin Mohamed Khalid al-Khater and including UDC’s acting CEO Badr al-Meer.
The new station located next to the Qatar Cool plant at The Pearl-Qatar will serve the island and its current residential and commercial precincts, which are at present served by a station temporarily set up to cater to the island’s emergency needs. Its service area will cover all 10 precincts of The Pearl-Qatar.
Construction of the fire station covering a built-up area of more than 1,960sqm started in December 2012 and was completed by the end of March this year at a cost of QR23mn, excluding the cost of land and other expenses related to project management and supervision. The total area of the plot is 3,087sqm.
While the current response time for areas in the West Bay district and its vicinity ranges from five to 10 minutes, the new station will reduce the response time to places in The Pearl-Qatar to less than three minutes, meeting the highest international time standards.
“This is an extremely important development for the community at The Pearl-Qatar,” said al-Meer, pointing out that “in addition to reducing the demand on stations now serving areas closer to the island, this fire station would reduce response time and bolster security measures and safety at The Pearl-Qatar.”
According to the Director-General of Civil Defence, Staff Brigadier General Abdullah Mohamed al-Suwaidi, the station at The Pearl-Qatar couldn’t have come at a more important time.
“We hope that the infrastructure and facilities developed at this beautiful ultra-modern station would encourage the development of similar facilities throughout Doha’s growing new residential neighbourhood and areas,” he said, adding that “the contributions firemen make to society often go unnoticed, and a fire station of this magnitude at The Pearl-Qatar acknowledges the efforts and sacrifices made by our brave men who often risk their lives to save others.”
Eventually, the officials conducted a tour of the facilities of the new building and were briefed on its sections and sophisticated equipment.
The building includes covered parking for fire trucks on the ground floor, accommodating a total of 10 large and medium trucks, offices, operation rooms, fire brigade facilities, training yard and an underground tank for fire and domestic water, foam tank and pumps room.
The first floor features a lecture room, gymnasium, dining room, stores, sleeping rooms and senior staff facilities. The station’s smart systems feature BMS, an access-control system and a closed-circuit television system.
Meanwhile, students from the Japanese school visited the fire station. Japanese consul-general Shimamura Msayuki and school principal Koji Eide also attended the event.
The Pearl-Qatar has a set of sophisticated health and safety processes already in operation on the island, a key component of which is the Official Emergency Guide. It details measures to be undertaken by first observers and respondents to an emergency.
The Health and Safety team is also equipped with state-of-the-art gear and operates vehicles with wireless communication system, firefighting and emergency kit.