Dubai tower fire latest in spate
Cause of New Year’s Eve blaze at 63-storey luxury hotel now under investigation
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES— A towering inferno that engulfed a 63storey luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year’s Eve still smouldered through the first day of 2016, as firefighters worked to douse its embers on Friday.
Authorities said they were still working to determine the cause of the fire that erupted before the city’s fireworks extravaganza and raced through the Address Downtown, one of the most upscale hotels and residences in Dubai. It is the latest in a series of fires striking the towers that give this megacity its futuristic skyline.
Dubai officials said only 14 people suffered minor injuries while evacuating the building late Thursday, but the fire raised new questions about building safety for those living in the United Arab Emirates.
The Address offered a prime spot for viewing the midnight fireworks display, centred at the nearby Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The Address boasts a luxury hotel with nearly 200 rooms, along with more than 600 residential units. Rentals of a one-bedroom can run $70,000 a year.
The fire started at about 9:30 p.m., racing up the sides of the building. But authorities went ahead with the fireworks show.
More than 12 hours later, on Friday morning, Dubai firefighters largely watched the fire from the ground, unable at one point to use a water hose on a ladder truck. They later regained water pressure and resumed spraying the building. Restaurants nearby opened for business, but served limited menus, as civil defence officials had cut natural gas to the area.
By the afternoon, the blaze had largely died down but small fires were still visible, burning through some windows and sending smoke into the air.
Dubai Civil Defence said the fire appeared to have started on the 20th-floor terrace, according to a statement by the government media office. Witnesses who saw the blaze start said they believed it began on the ground floor.
Civil Defence said “cooling procedures” were still underway Friday and that the investigation into the cause was underway.
About one million people had been expected to gather around the Burj Khalifa skyscraper to watch the fireworks. Dubai’s economy depends heavily on tourism, and New Year’s is one of the busiest seasons, drawing people from around the world to watch the spectacular fireworks display the emirate puts on at the Burj, as well as at the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and over a man-made palmshaped island.
Dubai-based Emaar Properties, which built the Burj Khalifa, the Address Downtown and other surrounding developments, declined to immediately answer questions about the fire posed by The Associated Press. It did issue a statement praising authorities “for their immediate and professional support.”
“An investigation is ongoing and details will be provided once they are ascertained,” the statement said.
Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the U.A.E.’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, also praised first responders for “the success of the rescue operation,” in comments published by the state-run WAM news agency.
But challenges remain as Dubai has faced a series of recent tower fires.
In February, a similar blaze spread along the external cladding of the 86-storey Torch tower, one of the world’s tallest residential buildings. There were no serious casualties in that fire.
In October, another fire broke out in a highrise residential tower in the Emirati city of Sharjah.