Fire In Salmiya!

I was driving home after some shopping at Marks & Spencer, when I noticed some fumes rising through the air. I headed towards them and found a small, 3-storey building on fire (Google Maps Link here). Here are the details.

It happened at around 10pm, I was on my way back home, driving towards the exit at the Passports Roundabout when I noticed fumes & flames coming out from between the buildings. I drove towards the fumes and I noticed that it was a small 3-storey building sandwiched between two large buildings, one residential and one commercial, and a couple of fire trucks and police cars were already on the scene, with some more speeding towards the location from Salem Al Mubarak St.

The fire was being fed by the winds which were blowing them towards the adjacent buildings. Soon, the rear end of the adjacent building ( I think it was the Vietnam Trade Center, or something!) By that time, more fire trucks and police cars and ambulances arrived, and one of the fire trucks extended it's ladder and the firefighter atop of it began to drop water onto the flames.

The firefighters, for some reason, only utilized the ladder, I wasn't able to see any actual entries into the buildings, and I was close enough to notice any. Of course, everyone was crowded around looking & commenting, so I asked a couple of Asian men if anyone was hurt, and they said no, the building was cleared completely. I drove around the building to see even more activity and more fire trucks, but they were just sitting there, no one actually fighting the flames, so it was all up to the poor man in the elevated ladder to douse the fires out apparently!

Some of the people in the residential building next to the one on fire, apparently finding this as amusing as I did, were on the rooftops taking pictures, and I also noted some journalists taking snapshots and interviewing people on the scene as well.

I stayed and watched until around 11:20pm, it was quite a dramatic experience. I took some shots with my (ahem!) brand-new Nokia N95-8GB, hope they're clear enough.

These events did not deter anyone from hitting on some girls who were sitting in their cars looking at the events either, as some guys in an SUV started doing just that, right in front of every onlooker, and a couple (not one!) of police cars just meters away from them!

Well...that's Kuwait for you...everywhere and anywhere I suppose!!