DUBAI // A fire in a tyre dumping yard owned by the Dubai Municipality threw up a huge plume of smoke yesterday that could be seen from several kilometres away.
The fire started in a warehouse used to store tyres for recycling just before noon, a Dubai Civil Defence spokesman said. There were some security guards in the warehouse as soon as the fire began. No injuries were reported. The blaze was brought under control by 12.20pm and the cause has yet to be determined.
The black smoke trail from the blaze in Al Qusais industrial area filled most of the complex and was visible well into the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah. Police cordoned off most of the nearby roads to allow firemen more space to work and traffic in the area was considerably slowed.
"It was at first a lot of smoke filling the sky, then we heard rescue and police vehicles heading to the scene because the old tyre storage unit was on fire," said Mohammed, a worker at a local petrol station who declined to give his surname. "The intensity of the smoke was because of the rubber."
The fire could have come from a faulty electrical circuit as a spark was reported by some workers on the scene, but investigators would have to confirm that, said Ibrahim Yaqoub, the Dubai Municipality's director of contracts and purchasing. The municipality had given some private companies contracts to recycle the used tyres from the yard for re-export, he said.
wissa@thenational.ae
