SHARJAH // A large furniture warehouse was destroyed and a labour camp damaged in a fire yesterday. The blaze, in the Sharjah Industrial Area, started about 10am in the warehouse behind Micro Supermarket, before spreading to the labour camp and gutting three rooms. Highly flammable mattresses and furniture were destroyed in the warehouse. The fire took three hours to extinguish, a senior official from Sharjah Civil Defence said. The labour camp was empty at the time of the fire and no one was injured, however possessions and savings were destroyed. Labourers started returning home in the midafternoon to discover their belongings gone. "I want them to compensate me Dh12,000 - three years of my money was in a suitcase," said Zahir Khan one of the labourers. Mr Khan said he had not gone home for three years, but was planning to make his first trip in December. Now, he does not know what he will do. "I don't have a bank account; all my savings, I hide them in my suitcase. No one believes me because no one knows I was keeping it there," he said. Another labourer, who gave his name as Hassan, said he was hoping to find the gold he had hidden in his possessions once the police gave the labourers access to the ruined rooms. "I have my gold, full set for my bride's dowry, I took so long to collect it and my wedding was scheduled for early next year." The cause of the fire was not immediately identified and officers from the Sharjah Police CID were still at the scene late yesterday. A witness, who declined to be named, claimed the fire was able to spread because firemen took too long to get to the blaze. A civil defence senior officer said firemen were on the scene within 10 minutes. Adequate fire safety measures were in place at the warehouse, he said. There were no immediate estimates of the cost of the loss. ykakande@thenational.ae