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Faulty electric circuits caused IMPZ fire

by Conrad Egbert on Oct 19, 2009

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No casualties have been reported from the fire
No casualties have been reported from the fire

The cause of the fire at a labour camp in the International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) on Saturday night is believed to have been caused due to an electrical fault, according to the IMPZ authorities.

Speaking to Construction Week, IMPZ spokesperson Yaqoob Al Zarooni said, “The fire was not a big one and it was tackled very quickly and caused no injuries. I believe the fire started due to a short circuit.”

Construction Week witnessed the fire first-hand as it ripped through four cabins of a temporary labour camp for workers of landscaping company Proscape, which is carrying out the IMPZ lake works. No injuries were reported.

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It is time to employ modern cable systems and get rid of single core cables running in galvanized steel conduit. Electr

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Firefighters accompanied by the police and ambulances arrived on scene in under an hour and the fire was put out by about 1am.

At the time a spokesperson for Proscape said he thought the fire was due to a short circuit.

Previous fires have shown that poor MEP works were the cause and calls from experts to tighten regulations have been made in the past.

On Sunday, it was revealed that the cause for the fire at a Sharjah warehouse was due to poor MEP works. 

“The standard of MEP work is generally very poor in the UAE,” said Iain Fryer, director of KMI International, a company that specialises in providing thermal imaging technology to check for MEP problems.

Often, problems are difficult to spot with the naked eye and this, claimed Fryer, is where thermal imaging has advantages.

“The cabling can look fine but then we’ll notice that it’s running much hotter than it should be and there’s actually a fire risk. Short circuiting is the reason for many fires and, as we saw recently in Sharjah, the results can be disastrous.”




Readers' Comments


Barry (Oct 30, 2009)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Electrical Fires
It is time to employ modern cable systems and get rid of single core cables running in galvanized steel conduit. Electrical cables surface mounted should employ NYM type, multi core insulated cables within a single insulated sheath run on trays or in PVC or ABS conduit. Much safer and less chance of damaging cable insulation during installation. Screw type plastic cable connectors are very often used above ceilings and left exposed,and all too often, the connectors are overloaded resulting in loose cable connections. WAGO self locking push type clips are much safer and impossible to overload. Sub surface cabling is best achieved using multi core ribbon type cables such as IMPU. This allows a faster, cleaner and safer installation of all in-wall cabling. It is a great contradiction to boast about all the mega projects, biggest, longest, tallest etc. when behind the glittering facades, ancient technology in electrical works still prevails. Less dangerous to life are the low standard plumbing installations. The visible fixtures are always top notch, but what you cannot see is the poor installation practices hiding below the surface. Some habits certainly die hard! It is absolutely imperative that construction companies employ first rate site supervisors. In my experience over the last decade and more, is that site supervisors and project managers are sloppy,under qualified and overpaid. The labor forces employed in this country are of limited qualification and require good supervision to get a job done well. Quality has to start at the top, and be followed all the way down to the screwdriver!


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