Wednesday 21 April 2010
Mock drill at Al Ain Intercontinental Hotel
Al Ain Police Directorate staged an Evacuation Mock Drill at Al Ain Intercontinental Hotel, on Wednesday morning.
Colonel Hamad Ajlan Al Amyami, Director of Al Ain Police Directorate said "ADP GHQ strategy is to maintain and enhance safety and security in accordance with security scenarios and plans focusing on the principle of 'Prevention is better than cure', in order to implement highest levels of policing as per world best practices".
Al Amyami affirmed the importance of practical drills in raising the skills and efficiency of police personnel and other relevant supporting agencies. Such exercisies assist in reducing losses and casualties.
Captain Mohammad Salim Al Dhahri, Director of Operations affairs at the City Police Section and commanding officer of the drill said, "The mock drill started at nine o'clock in the morning after a call from the Hotel staff to the Operations Room of Al Ain Police Directorate about a fire incident in one room on the fifth floor of the Hotel. Civil Defence Department was informed immediately and security patrols were mobilized to the site of the incident to isolate the area. Meanwhile the Hotel security staff started evacuating the guests by use of microphones and loud speakers, and alarm system in cooperation with the Civil defence elements. The participating forces arrived at the gathering point at the parking area of the Hotel".
Participating forces started dealing with fire immediately, ensuring the hotel was completely evacuated. The special task Force elements cordoned off the area. The Media and Public Relations Section Set up a media center to deal with media men who were present at the site.
According to the drill scenario two persons inured where the Emergency and Public safety personnel provided first aids assistance to one of them at the field hospital set up for this purpose. The other one who suffered from suffocation was taken to al Ain Hospital for treatment.
Scene of the Crime Unit cordoned off the site of the incident and the CID Team started gathering information about the incident.
All participating forces were redeployed at 09:30 after ensuring that things returned to normal.
Captain Al Dhahri affirmed that the mock drill was a success. The participating forced arrived to the site of incident in 6 minutes. Fire dosed, hotel guests evacuated and things returned back to normal in a record time. The aim of the drill was to examine security and evacuation plans efficiency, preparedness of fire fighting system and how the security and safety team deals with incidents and emergencies.
Mr. Akram Bassala, Director of Security at the Hotel expressed his appreciation of the level of participating forces performance. All tasks were achieved appropriately. The Security and safety Team of the Hotel dealt with the incident on the spot. They used fire extinguishers, gave first aid assistance to the injured persons and when the fire escalated they reported the incident to police operations. 325 persons were evacuated from the Hotel.
Civil Defence Department, City Police Section, Traffic Police, Emergency and Public Safety Section, Special Tasks section, CID Team, Crime Scene Unit and other supporting parties participated in the drill.