Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOW DID THEY GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE?
Dubai apartments inferno
FAMILIES have told how they escaped from one of the world’s tallest luxury skyscrapers as it caught fire for the second time.
Just like the Grenfell Tower disaster in West London, external cladding at the 1,106ft Torch Tower in Dubai caught alight and flames raced up the building.
But, unlike at Grenfell where at least 80 died, its wealthy residents were woken by alarms, sprinklers and security staff.
Critically, they were told to evacuate and all got outside after 10 minutes.
One resident said: “We were woken by the alarm and people screaming.”
There were no injuries in Thursday night’s spectacular blaze, with everyone inside making it to safety through two smoke-free fire escapes at 1am. The 86-storey block, where its 676 apartments start at around £381,000, is popular with expat Brits.
It was the second occasion Leeanne Hume, 38, and husband Donnie, 40, of Wishaw, North Lanarks, had to flee their 15th-floor home. Mrs Hume said: “This is horrific. We are safe but our building is horrendous, worse than last time.”
Consultancy Tenable Dubai said blazes in the Gulf city spread quickly because of external cladding. But they said the 2011 Torch Tower’s design and construction allowed firefighters to battle the blaze and residents to successfully evacuate.
It went up in flames on February 21, 2015, after exterior cladding caught fire.
The tower was still undergoing restoration. Recent rules require new buildings to replace flammable side panelling.
LEEANNE HUME WHO ESCAPED THE BLAZE