USA TODAY International Edition
Dubai blaze renews concerns about cladding
Material blamed for high- rise fires in UAE and around the world
Friday’s fire at an 86story residential tower in Dubai raises new concerns that metal and plastic exterior coverings used widely around the world pose a huge safety risk.
Even before the Dubai blaze broke out and engulfed more than 40 floors, officials across the globe were inspecting high- rises that use external coverings, or cladding — common on apartment buildings, schools, offices and hospitals.
The initial checks were prompted by the fatal London fire at Grenfell Tower on June 14 that killed at least 80 people. The inferno caused property owners and fire inspectors in numerous countries to check plastic insulation and aluminum panels used on the outside of buildings to de- termine if they need to be replaced.
The cause of the Dubai fire was not immediately known, but similar Dubai blazes in the past have been linked to the highly flammable building cladding. It was the second major fire in the 1,100foot Torch Tower in less than three years. Several people were treated for smoke inhalation, Gulf News reported.
Fires have affected several skyscrapers in recent years in the United Arab Emirates — where Dubai is situated on the Persian Gulf coast — including a towering inferno that engulfed a 63- story luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year’s Eve in 2016.
After the London fire, authorities in the western German city of Wuppertal evacuated an 11- story apartment building because its insulation was found to be flammable.
In Australia, at least 2,700 buildings in New South Wales were scheduled to remove cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower, local media reported.
Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank decided to replace cladding on its new headquarters because of safety concerns. The United Arab Emirates’ fire safety and life protection code was recently revised after numerous building fires fueled by flammable cladding in recent years, Gulf Business reported.
While the new regulations are now in place for construction in Dubai and other cities, it’s unclear how authorities will force owners to replace flammable siding with better material.
In the United States, the Cleveland Browns football stadium has cladding “similar if not identical” to the panels on Grenfell, but it poses “zero risk to the fans,” said the city’s chief building official, Thomas Vanove.
In the United Kingdom, the Premier Inn chain said it was “extremely concerned” about clad- ding on three of its hotels. And developer Taylor Wimpey informed residents in several housing projects that “the cladding has not met the initial flammability tests.”
After the London blaze, the company that makes the flammable plastic core in the Grenfell cladding stopped global sales of the product for use in high- rise buildings.
Adding to the flammability concerns is the possibility that the burning insulation in the cladding releases a toxic gas, a concern raised after a 12- year- old girl who survived at Grenfell Tower was treated for cyanide poisoning.
Similar plastic insulation was banned in Britain’s coal mines four decades ago because it emitted potentially deadly cyanide gas when burned, former miners said.
Cladding saves energy, looks modern and protects structures from the elements at a comparatively low cost and is most common in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.