established fire safety systems are required in offices and at important locations that include places of mass transit such as airports and bus stations that witness increased pilgrim activity during Ramadan and Haj seasons, according to a seminar on fire safety held in Riyadh, Monday. Husam Sinjab Contracting Establishment, dealer in Saudi Arabia for Firetrace, a US-based Automatic Fire Suppression Systems, organized the seminar. A number of Saudi officials from Civil Defense and other ministries and private sector companies were present on the occasion. Firetrace officials Mark D. Cavanaugh, Vice President and CFO, and Jim Dickinson, Regional Director, were the keynote speakers. Husam Sinjab, General Manager of Husam Sinjab Contracting Establishment demonstrated the effectiveness of Firetrace equipments that extinguished the fire within seconds. The fire safety experts addressed the fire safety issues pertaining to any “micro-environment” or closed space where critical assets are located or where an increased risk of fire could be mitigated by an automatic fire suppression system. Sinjab said discussions with Civil Defense, Ministry of Defense and Aviation (MoDA), King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh, Imam Saud University are at advanced stage and would sign a contract for the installation of fire safety system. “The Civil Defense attended a Firetrace demonstration and was very happy to know that Firetrace systems are completely self-contained, require no electrical power, and are easy to install and maintain,” he said. Cavanaugh said in America at least three to four bus fire incidents take place on a daily basis. “Firetrace is in use on more than 10,000 buses worldwide, along with thousands of para-transit vehicles, and light and heavy rail. In fact, Firetrace receives reports monthly on buses being saved, with a great many more going unreported, simply because people get scared,” he said. Sinjab said there has been a remarkable increase in the Umrah traffic during Ramadan, when a large number of people opt to travel by road to the Two Holy Cities through Umrah operators. He said almost every type of engine compartment poses some level of fire risk as gasoline, oil, grease and high temperatures are all present in the same area. “Mass transit vehicles such as buses are not immune from fire either,” he said referring to the Haj and Umrah companies that operate convoys of buses every day reporting a substantial increase in the Umrah traffic during Ramadan. __
