UAE Interior Minister inaugurates 'Smart Civil Defence Stations' project

ABU DHABI - Lt. General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, on Monday officially inaugurated the first phase of the Smart Civil Defence Stations project in Abu Dhabi, in a ceremony at the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence General Directorate’s Operations Room at the Qubeisat Civil Defence Station, national news agency wam reported today.

The project is designed to boost civil defence stations’ preparedness and operational capabilities, monitoring and maintaining effective command and control of events from the Operations Room.

Lt. General Shaikh Saif reviewed the project’s key objectives, which are intended to support and develop civil defence teams’ performance; achieve emergency response in the shortest time possible; and ensure timely arrival to the incident site.

Lt. General  Sheikh Saif carried out a drill using the new system to measure response time of a number of civil defence stations chosen randomly. He also attended an in-field testing of the smart civil defence stations system, whereas he reviewed the different stages of work and the proper ways of receiving and handling incoming emergency calls. Sheikh Saif also inspected the civil defence vehicles and met with the committee in charge of the project, praising the work team’s diligent efforts and constructive ideas in completing the project.

The Interior Minister toured the different facilities at the Qubeisat Civil Defence Station and urged staff members to maintain the distinguished achievements and to further contribute to improving the services provided by the civil defence sector to society.

Colonel Mohammed Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Executive Office of the Federal Civil Defence Sector Development Council, briefed Sheikh Saif about the project, which allows the operations room to electronically control civil defence stations.

'As soon as the operations room is notified of an accident, the closest civil defence station in its area of jurisdiction is dispatched electronically through the system. The system operates by sounding the alerting siren, lighting the passageways and the parking space, and opening bay doors automatically,' he said.

He also indicated that all civil defence stations across the emirate are linked to the Central Operations Department of Abu Dhabi Police.

Colonel Al Nuaimi also enumerated the different smart systems that will be installed at the Smart Civil Defence Stations, notably, performance indicators to measure emergency teams response time and readiness and preparedness of civil defence stations; decoders that would sound the fire alarm siren at the closest station from the main operations rooms; accidents reporting and statistics; security surveillance of stations; access control including entry and exiting screening; identifying civil defence vehicles while responding to accidents; intercom systems; building management; and provision of water and electricity.

He further added that the set of smart systems used in the project will allow the Civil Defence General Directorate to control civil defence stations via specially designed platforms. Through these platforms, the main operations room would sound the fire alarm siren; electronically open bay doors; switch lights on and off; provide civil defence members with information and guidance on the accident’s location and type while heading to the vehicles through loudspeakers; assess the teams deployment time, starting from the receipt of the call to the minute when the first vehicle leaves the station. All of these systems operate according to international standards.

Commenting on the energy efficient system, Colonel Al Nuaimi said, 'The system contributes automatically to reducing energy consumption significantly, and measure water levels in the tanks. It also allows senior officers to monitor the stations via Smartphones round the clock.'

The project is one of the strategic initiatives implemented by the civil defence sector, and will include in the first phase 23 civil defence stations in Abu Dhabi City. In the second phase, the project will be implemented across Al Ain and the Western Region (Al Gharbia) stations; and finally at the rest of the stations in all of the cities across the UAE in the third phase.

The key objective of the project is to establish performance indicators to measure emergency response time according to international standards. It is an integrated smart management system designed to improve civil defence stations’ readiness and capabilities, and is fully supported by the Federal Civil Defence Sector Development Council.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by several government and Civil Defence officials.