- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:15 06:32 12:06 15:10 17:35 18:51
A fire expert is urging authorities to compel landlords to install surveillance cameras in all residential and office buildings in the UAE because it can help early determination of the cause of fire.
Mahmoud El Shahat, a fire expert at the Department of Criminal Evidence and Criminology at Dubai Police, said surveillance cameras are installed in 15 to 20 per cent of buildings in Dubai.
He said surveillance cameras can not only help fire fighters to reach places where the blaze started but also help in detecting crime.
He said cameras will also help fire experts to write reports for public prosecutors, courts and insurance companies.
He said the main task of fire experts was to determine the cause of the blaze – whether it is electric short circuit, cooking stove, welding sparks, cigarettes, burning coal, candles etc.
He added that the work of fire experts usually starts after the civil defence has finished its task and after the Department of Criminal Evidence and Criminology has collected information from witnesses.
He also said surveillance cameras sometimes help to confirm or deny eyewitness accounts of a fire, as in the case of the JLT blaze. In this case, eyewitnesses had said that the last person entered the tower at 10.30pm whereas a camera proved that someone had entered the building around the time when fire broke out late at night.
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