Fire destroys 12 Sharjah warehouses

SHARJAH // A fire has swept through a scrap dumping site in Sharjah Industrial area 12, hours after a blaze destroyed a dozen warehouses in Industrial area 15, officials have confirmed.

According to Brig Abdullah Saeed Al Suwaidi, the director general of Sharjah Civil Defence, the blaze at the municipality dumping ground started at noon on Thursday and took fire fighters about an hour to completely extinguish.

The fire in a furniture warehouse close to the National Paints Roundabout started on Wendesday night before spreading to others containing clothes, electronics, cables, and plastic goods.

"In total 12 warehouses were gutted by the fire," said Brig Al Suwaidi. "We had the support of fire fighters from Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain. The fire spread very fast but our team managed to save a neighbouring medical store."

He said fire fighters were now undertaking a cooling process throughout the gutted warehouses and the dumping site.

The exact cause of both fires is now under investigation and a team of experts and CID officials will be taking over the sites to carry out investigations.

ykakande@thenational.ae