Sunday: 19 December 2010:
"MoI" launches the National Campaign for Domestic and home Safety
In response to the directives of the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (God bless him), and follow up of Lt. General HH Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, MoI, represented by the Civil Defence GHQ, has launched today, Sunday the national Campaign for Families' Domestic safety. The campaign is the first and widest of its kind globally, and will run for months.
This has been announced by Major General Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, Acting Commander-in-chief of Civil Defence, during the press conference held at MoI Headquarters, and attended by the Directors Generals, Directors of Departments, number of officers and representatives of local Medias.
Major General Al Matrooshi said "The aim of the Campaign is to spread preventive culture among all family members, through domestic visits by Civil Defence Teams. They will visit all houses in the country and orient family members on fire safety rules and guidelines. These guidelines will be further enhanced by distribution of publications, brochures and posters to families, with a view to change them into a preventive individual behavior".
"217 officers and NCOs will participate in the Campaign, which kicks off with effect from today (Sunday). They will be divided into 68 Teams deployed to 68 Sectors covering most parts of the country. 4.2 million Guideline posters, 500 thousand booklets and 2.2 million roll-ups in Arabic and English will be distributed to houses, in addition to 500 thousand House Visit Notice Forms", added Al Matrooshi.
"The number and size of fires in the country indicate that domestic fires are the highest in comparison with establishments and other places fires. With the increasing number of losses resulting from these fires, especially in lives, a committee comprising specialists, field commanders at the Civil defence and other relevant authorities, has been formed to study the causes of these fires, preventive measures and finding remedies", added Al Matrooshi.
"The houses in terms of safety precautions are divided into two categories: Modern houses which are provided with prevention and safety requirements. Rare incidents of fire occur in these houses. The other category is the olds houses which lack prevention and safety measures. The fire incidents increases in these houses", added Al Matrooshi.
Al Matrooshi believes that the causes of fire are mainly the weak preventive awareness which leads to negligence, which is main cause of fires and their increased losses, in addition to poor fire safety infrastr