KUWAIT: Acting Chief of Kuwait Fire Force (KFF) Lieutenant General Khaled Fahad said that there would be new requirements on investment buildings as a step to further prevent fires. In an interview with KUNA, Lieutenant General Fahad said Saturday that KFF has been working on a project to link commercial buildings with the main KFF operations center, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

He explained that these new percussions came after Al-Mangaf fire, and that these include intensifying inspection operations on buildings, especially the doors of the facility’s roof, basements and storage areas. He added that all investment buildings, regardless of the number of floors, would be required to install a fire sprinkler system, whereas before it was only applied to buildings with more than 10 floors.

In regards to private housing, Lieutenant General Fahad said that the Fire Force Law exempted private housing from the safety requirements of the force, pointing out that KFF advises the owners to have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. He added that the simple requirements also include that the elevators used and gas extensions be approved by KFF, pointing out that these procedures don’t require licenses.

He noted that some citizens have begun to apply all security and safety measures in their facilities, and as a result of their awareness, a decrease in the number of fires has recently been observed. Fahad also pointed out that there is no objection to work with Kuwait Municipality and Public Authority for Housing Welfare to provide them with these requirements when approving the housing plans, adding that this would be implemented soon. He stressed that the Fire Department has been following up on the issue of licenses, which must be renewed, and that each company must prepare a monthly report to be submitted to KFF.

Regarding the statistics of weekly incidents of fires, rescue and other incidents, the Lieutenant General revealed that it amounted to 4,056 fires since the beginning of 2024 until mid-September. He explained that these cases were 720 in Kuwait City, 562 in Hawally, 457 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, 713 in Farwaniya, 556 in Jahra, and 656 in Ahmadi, while the Marine Fire Department dealt with 24 cases, Special Tasks with 10 cases, (Northern) with 141 cases, (Southern) with 206 cases, and 11 cases regarding airports.

He said that the number of fires in residential areas reached 918 fires, distributed as follows: 140 in the Kuwait City, 169 in Hawally, 124 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, 174 in Farwaniya, 132 in Jahra, and 169 in Ahmadi, and 5 cases in the north and 5 cases in the south. As for the number of fires in non-residential areas, there were 411 cases, distributed as follows: 77 in Kuwait City, 58 in Hawally, 45 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, 58 in Farwaniya, 33 in Jahra, and 43 in Ahmadi, while Special Tasks dealt with two fire cases, the (Northern) with 29 fires, and the (Southern) with 62 fires. The number of transportation fires reached 739 cases, distributed as follows: 7 marine transportation cases, 731 land transportation cases, and one air transportation case.

The total number of rescue operations reached 5,997 cases, distributed as follows: 1,031 cases in Kuwait City, followed by Hawally with 886, Mubarak Al-Kabeer with 802, Farwaniya with 768, Ahmadi with 826, while the Marine Fire Department dealt with 871 cases, Special Tasks with 39, (Northern) 59 cases, (Southern) 160 cases, and 12 cases regarding airports. The number of preparedness cases reached 129 cases, distributed as follows: 15 cases in Kuwait City, 12 in Hawally, 4 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, 8 in Farwaniya, 4 in Jahra, 5 in Ahmadi, while Marine Fire Department with 21 cases, Special Tasks with 13, and airports with 47 cases.

He pointed out that the incidents of fires caused by juveniles and children tampering with a heat source or flammable materials - deliberate act reached 396 fire incidents according to the incident reporting system, with 184 fire incidents caused by deliberate act and 212 fire incidents caused by juveniles and children. — KUNA