Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Over a hundred cars and 45 garages were burned down in a massive fire in Wadi Kabir, with the damages estimated at over OMR2 million, according to a Municipal Council member.
“The fire broke out allegedly due to sparks from welding torches that were being used,” said Salim Al Ghamari, a Municipal Council representative of Wilayat of Muttrah, of which Wadi Kabir is a part.
“The fire was caused because these sparks came into contact with flammable materials present in one of the garages in the area.”
“The blaze engulfed a number of garages,” he added. “Extensive material damage has occurred estimated at more than OMR2 million. Hundreds of cars have been damaged by the fire: these include vehicles of customers and workers in the area, as well as many which were going to be turned into scrap metal.”
“The industrial area in Wadi Kabir, where this fire took place, is old, and it requires many services within to be updated,” said Al Ghamari.
“These include the availability of fire hydrants, because many of the firefighting teams had to run a good distance away to bring water to put out the fire.”
“About 45 garages have been affected, each of them occupying an area ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 square metres,” he said.
“There must be an organisation that monitors these workshops and makes sure everyone there implements the safety requirements that need to be followed in such places.”
“This organisation must be jointly formed by the Capital Market Authority, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Environment Authority, and the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), to make sure such accidents do not take place in future, and so that any potential of subsequent damage is reduced,” he explained.
Going forward, Al Ghamari said that teams from organisations involved with the operation of garages and workshops will define the procedures that need to be followed, should a fire of this nature break out again.
These include the provision of mandatory health insurance for workers employed at these facilities, and storage practices for dangerous, flammable materials, which are in keeping with safety and security standards. The CMA will also discuss the possibility of compulsory insurance for facilities in industrial areas.
Emergency service teams from PACDA were alerted to the massive blaze spreading across the Wadi Kabir Industrial Area at around 2:10 on Thursday afternoon, located in an area that had a number of shops that repaired cars and sold used car parts.
They worked through the night to quell the flames, alongside teams from the Royal Oman Police, with their work ending 20 hours later, when the fire was finally extinguished and chemicals to cool the area were sprayed.
“The nature of the materials at the site, including fuel, oils and other combustible substances, as well as the speed of the wind, helped speed up the spread of the fire,” said a PACDA official. “Work finally ended at 11 am on Friday. Fortunately, no injuries were recorded.”
Once the fire had been put out, the Wali of Wilayat Muttrah, as well as officials from the Municipal Council, and members of the OCCI, visited the site to survey the extent of the damage.
Signs of the fire were visible across much of the surrounding area, with people in places as far as Al Khuwair and Ghubra also able to see it. A black pillar of smoke billowed upwards, steadily spreading across the sky. It was not uncommon to see many people watching proceedings unfold from their balconies. Siddhant Shetty and his mother, who live in Wadi Kabir, quite close to where the fire took place, were among those who witnessed it.
“I had gone out at around 4 pm when I saw some smoke rising from an area near me,” he told Times of Oman. “Initially, I did not pay much attention to it, as I thought it must be a small fire taking place. As I was driving to Al Khuwair, however, I noticed the sky steadily turning grey, and wondered whether this was the smoke from the same fire that I had seen earlier.
“It was only when I was returning home, near the Sheraton, at around 7pm, when I realised just how bad the fire was,” he recalled. “When I reached home, my mother and I went to the roof of our building to see if we could get a better view. I live about 1.5km away from the fire, and even from there, I could see bright orange flames burning. It was like someone had taken a handful of coal dust and thrown it at the sky: it was pitch black.
“My father came home a few minutes later, and told me the signal from Nesto leading to our house had been closed,” Shetty added. “That signal stayed closed until Friday afternoon. Many people who live in Wadi Kabir had to take alternate routes to go home, which caused a buildup of traffic on other roads.” Another resident of Muscat said, “We could see smoke all the way from our building in Ghubra.”
