Another fire broke out in Qatar
Looks like fire season is in full swing.
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DOHA: A six-member family, including five children, had a miraculous escape from their house on the second floor after a blaze gutted the apartment in Barwa real estate company’s affordable housing unit in Mesaimeer yesterday.
The fire alarm in the house apparently didn’t work, exposing loopholes in the safety system in the sprawling complex.
A six-member Arab family was trapped inside the house for several minutes and two children were injured, according to sources. When the fire broke out at around 11am, the mother and her six children were sleeping in two rooms. The fire alarm didn’t work and the sound of an explosion from the main switchboard in the hall woke them up to the blaze, it was learnt.
The siblings — two girls and a boy — were sleeping in one room and the mother and other two children were in another bedroom. The father was in his office when the fire broke out.
There are many apartment blocks in the complex that has nearly 1,000 residential units. The walls of the houses are made of gypsum and other flammable material, supported by steel.
The fire reportedly started from the hall, caused by a short circuit in the air-conditioner. A seven-year-old girl was the first to be woken up by the blaze and she opened the bedroom door to the hall that was full of smoke and flames. Her brother, who was with another sister in the same room pulled her back. But by then she had suffered burns in her hands, back and other parts of the body. All the three jumped out of the window and the elder sister sustained injuries on her leg, said a source close to the family.
The mother and two children who were in the other room were rescued by neighbours using a steel ladder. A Civil Defence team arrived and launched fire-fighting operations. All family members were taken to the Emergency Department of the Hamad Medical Corporation. Furniture and other valuables in the house were destroyed, though no other houses in the block were affected by the fire.
A resident of the complex said fire alarms were recently disabled by the company that maintains the premises. They were also not connected to the Civil Defence control room, according to some reports.
Isn't gypsum meant to be used for casting broken bones?
Or for decorative purposes in buildings?
I said, it has fire rating like any other materials.
the whole ceiling!
Well as you said, the space is vacant and the tenant is on vacation. The problem was not the Gypsum, it is the leak!
And Jon, lecture the others, not me!
Padre... the whole living room floor of one appartment in Barwa Wakrah collapsed... only because there were tiny leak.
The tenants had gone on vacation...and the tiny drops got accumulated into 1 inch water in living room... the gypsum got wet and didnt hold... the complete ceiling collapsed...
It can happen for the whole building...
So how can GYPSUM be safe?...
Its ok to use Gypsum if only 10% to 20% of the building is made of Gypsum.... with Barwa they try to make 80% of the building with Gypsum...
Wouldn't prolong it further but sorry to bring it again for the information of all. There are fire resistant gypsum boards but most of the places I've seen here doesn't use that and it is a prone to fire when there is any sort of ignition. Try doing a test on the boards which they use in these normal villas out here and I am sure you would know. I am sorry I wouldn't want to argue here and hence would end my debate here, but just wanted to bring this for an information of all.
there is nothing wrong for using Gypsum board on construction. It is lightweight and also have fire rating.
blister.., As per other comments I recd you are diverting the topic and you would be asked to stay in the topic
They have built the barwa (the one near the church & the one at wakrah) as if they are building it for some slumdwellers... with floor and ceiling and walls made of gypsum... its as if the tennents are staying for free... Pathetic. I cant even imagine in my wildest dreams they would ask rent for such houses...
Not only is it fire-ready it can even crumble any moment... if there is heavy rain and it have major leak... the whole building would come down like a wet biscuit...
Barwa should be banned from making houses... they keep making Houses out of Gypsum... whats next Wax or Paper? lucky the whole building didnt catch fire...
The Barwa mentioned here seem to be the one near the Church since they have mentioned Airconditioner... and also there are only 1,000 units. Barwa City seem to have central cooling.
The fire alarm was a small Indian man with a red flag but he fell asleep as he has worked for 246 days straight so did not raise the alarm.
Astounding but not unexpected logic.
There is method to the madness..
The company that has the maintenance contract would have to monitor and maintain the fire alarm systems. However, they can't do that because they were the lowest bidders.
So the obvious solution is to do away with the alarms.
and out of the hands of those in charge. Having fire systems that don't function due to neglect are not one of them!
Yeah reinstall the fire system after an incident like this....always good to have the fire alarms working after the fire....
exactly LL,,, it's kinda hot n fire can be take a place in any moment, we already had a bad experience last year, don't wanna see it repeatedly
Thanks for sharing the source.
Yes I second Joe..summer is in peak...
Of course it is the topic. If you feel so Im very sorry. Its mentioned that
"The walls of the houses are made of gypsum and other flammable material, supported by steel"
Doesn't that have any sense to what I talked? Im sorry I quit if you feel I am straying. This is what I thought while I read this.
If they have disabled the fire alarm system, they have to reinstall it ASAP due to some serious situations like this, who knew what will happen on next sec.
Glad the family is OK..
I'm sure CD will investigate
source
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/241726-children-jump-to-safety-as-fire-guts-apartment.html
stick to the topic.
To the OP, link or source please!
I believe a big hazard is the gypsum partitions as mentioned. There are in fact so many who stay in partitioned villas. All these have gypsum partitions without adequate fire protection norms followed. Some studies and actions would help to reduce incidents further to an extent.
May be they intended to replace it with new & improved version ...
[ Rome was not built in a day ..... ] it takes time.
Are you an eye witness ? or at least share the source please.
??????????