The Bravery of a UAE Expatriate – Building Fire, Walking Down 26 Floors With Her Children To Reach Safety
An alarming call from Lisa’s husband and nanny informed her that there had been a fire reported in the building as she was leaving her workplace. Lisa is an expat Kenyan. Her two-year-old son and five-year-old daughter were stranded in the building’s 26th-floor apartment in the C block.
According to Lisa, “They were desperate to be saved and were gasping for air.” She asked the van’s driver to bring her home instead of dropping off her coworkers since she was so terrified.
The babysitter who was watching their kids called Nicolas, Lisa’s husband, in a panic before telling his wife that their building was on fire and that they needed to leave right away.
Nicolas said, “But the nanny couldn’t watch the kids by herself, so she kept calling us,” adding that he was caught in traffic and had to run to the family’s help.
The couple’s story follows a terrifying event that happened in Al Nahda, Sharjah, on Thursday night. A high-rise residential building caught fire and was completely covered in smoke, sending the locals into a panicked and disorganized condition.
Lisa was met with a very chaotic situation when she got to the building. She ran into the building and found a lift, even though the structure was completely covered in dense smoke. She was breathing heavily and had trouble seeing when she got out of the elevator in her hurry to go to her flat.
She broke into their apartment and found her children and the nanny. With smoke in the air, Lisa bravely carried her 5-year-old and 2-year-old children down the stairs to safety.
“I knocked on many doors on the lower levels for fresh air as I was descending, as they were unaffected by the smoke,” said Lisa, who managed to evacuate her family to safety.
Meanwhile, affected tenants are being moved to temporary homes until their apartments are safe to live in again.
Extensive damage has been reported in block B of the towers, while block C also suffered significant damage to walls, ceilings, and floors. “Residents of block A and the lower levels of block C can return to their apartments, while tenants of block B cannot access their homes due to the fire damage,” said Aiko, a resident of tower A.
Many tenants are temporarily moving to their friends’ houses or hotels until they can return to their apartments.
