Warehouse fire in Oman destroys OMR165,000 worth of goods

Muscat: Goods worth an estimated OMR165,000 were gutted when a fire engulfed four warehouses in the Misfa area near Al Ansab early Wednesday morning, company officials said.
Read here: Massive fire engulfs warehouse in Oman
The fire broke out at around 1am and continued until 7am. The massive fire damaged warehouses of Kawthar Supplies, Teejan Equipment, Modern Wood Works and Modern Arabian Projects.
“Fire fighters were at the scene till the afternoon. Five fire engines and dozens of fire fighters had to put up a brave fight to contain the fire,” Shaheen Shamsudheen, an official from Kawthar Supplies, told the Times of Oman.
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According to Shamsudheen, the fire reportedly first damaged the Modern Arabian Projects’ warehouse and then spread to the Teejan Equipment warehouse.
“From there it spread to Modern Wood Works and then to my company’s warehouse. Big drums with cooking oil were stored near the Modern Arabian Projects’ warehouses. They all exploded and worsened the situation,” Shamsudheen, who lost goods worth OMR10,000 in the fire, added.
“We had fire safety equipment in the warehouse meant for oil field projects. We have lost everything,” she said.
Anantha Narayan, general manager of Modern Wood Works, pegged their loss between OMR100,000 and 150,000.
“We had imported equipment for woodwork. Everything has been gutted in the fire,” the general manager said.
“There were 25 workers employed at the warehouse. They are stranded now,” Narayan added.
Valerian Mathias, a senior official from Modern Arabian Projects, said their loss was estimated to be about OMR5,000.
“The fire was noticed by one of the workers. He alerted everybody and the fire teams were called, but as it was windy, the fire spread very fast,” Mathias added.
According to a report by the National Centre for Statistics and Information, a fire incident is reported every three hours in the country, and 23 per cent of them are reported from residential areas. Reports also revealed that 3,335 fire incidents were reported in Oman in 2014, with 23 per cent of the incidents being reported in residential facilities.
That year, 755 house fires, 55 building fires and 57 apartment fires were reported.
Recently, Colonel Said Al Asmi, assistant general manager for Operations at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) said fire threats remain a major challenge for establishments in Oman, especially in the summer.
“Unorganised and poorly marked storage of cables and flammable materials in many buildings raises the risk of damage by fire,” he noted.