Major fire averted

The Peninsula has always been a better read - more indepth and not afraid to creitically appraise a story. The Gulf Times was only good for the now defunct and infamous Court Round-up and the ocasional Letters Page.

Major fire,......what does it mean??? lol

GT staff comprises quite literally 2 employees - one with a lap top and a masters degree in cut and paste technology and of course the printing press guy.

How many died?

Perhaps they used the ladder to climb down from their offices before coming to westbay?

Indeed fubar, this item made me see GT for what it was. I'm not sure they have reporters, I think they just print whatever they are sent.

The Peninsula has much better reporting on local issues than the Gulf Times, in my opinion.  It's not affraid to be critical, whereas the Gulf Times just reads like a ministerial mouthpiece, all full of praise for everyone and everything. 

 Fire in Dafna; workers evacuated Tuesday, 13 September 2011 03:085Share A fire broke out at the site office of an under-construction tower in Al Dafna area at around 11:30am yesterday.Francesca AstorriDOHA: A number of workers engaged on a construction site in Al Dafna area were evacuated yesterday after some inflammable materials stored in the premises caught fire. However, no casualties were reported.The control room of Civil Defence received a message at 11.40am about a fire erupting the under-construction project near Darian Towers in Al Dafna and a team of fire fighters was immediately rushed to the spot. The inferno was brought under control by the fire fighting team within half-an-hour. Parts of the construction site were damaged due to fire.“I saw 100-150 workers coming out of the building.,” said the security officer working in a neighbouring tower.Brigadier-General Abdullah Mohamed Al Suwaidi said that water cannons were fired on the upcoming building with force to prevent fire spreading to the nearby buildings.Insulation materials, which are highly inflammable, stored at the site caught fire and clouds of thick black smoke could be seen billowing. Strong winds fanned the fire but Civil Defence personnel brought the flames under control.THE PENINSULA 

Same story by The Peninsula, but with much better reporting. Perhaps I am reading the wrong newspaper.

Maybe it's because most people who read the Gulf Times believe everything they read?

Indeed LP ;)

They want to show that they have one, TB. And it's long. Got it?

No s_isale I need to speak to senior civil defence official Brigadier Abdulla al-Sowaidi.The reason I ask the question is because I sense that this news item has been sensationalised more than it should. All credit to the civil defense, they responded quickly and proportionately, and they extinguished the fire quickly. But why say you used a 55m ladder in a fire where it was not required. And indeed if it was used at all.Also there is nothing in the news item to explain that the fire was not inside the tower, thus readers would be led to believe that the civil defense had been called to, fought and extinguished a fire high up in a tower building, when in fact it was in a small area in the corner of the construction site used to store stuff that made a lot of smoke when it burned.Why not just tell it as it was, they did a good job so this would be a praise worthy item without bulling it up a bit?

need to ask the reporter...

"and a 55m long ladder was used to reach the upper floors" Why use a 55m long ladder to reach the upper floors when the fire was outside the building in an area used for storage?