Huge fire breaks out in building in Ajman (UAE)

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: Gulf News

Ajman: A huge fire gutted at least two buildings in the Ajman One residential cluster of 12 towers close to the border with Sharjah on Monday night. Fire mainly damaged Tower 1.

Officials could not immediately be reached for information on any casualties, but one official said tenants were being evacuated to safety.

Brigadier Saleh Saeed Al Matroushi, Director of Ajman Civil Defence, told Gulf News that civil defence teams were working to put out the fire.

The operations room had received a call about the fire at 9.45pm. Civil Defence, rescue and ambulance teams rushed to the scene. Traffic on roads leading to the area had come to a virtual halt.

Read more: http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/emergencies/huge-fire-breaks-out-in-building-in-ajman-1.1699718

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[Eugene]

1. Another one?

Second one in three months. And here I thought modern skyscrapers aren't supposed to burn this easily.

[daleo]

2. It is interesting how little attention some passers-by are giving it

In the video.

[ToxMarz]

3. The decorative outer facades on most of their new highrises is extremely flammable

[link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/dubai/12076792/Dubai-skyscraper-fire-new-years-eve-2015-live.html|

• Flames engulfed the exterior of the luxury 63-storey hotel ‘The Address’ within a matter of seconds, tearing up the outside of the building “like paper” according to onlookers and creating a stampede of New Years’ revellers fleeing for their lives.
• The fire - the third major skyscraper fire in Dubai since 2012 – has raised renewed fears about the use of highly combustible materials on the exterior facades of hundreds of skyscrapers throughout the UAE.
• At the heart of safety concerns is the use of polyurethane and aluminium composite cladding on buildings throughout the height of the emirate’s building boom. The material was only outlawed by new buildings regulations in 2013.

[Warpy]

4. That footage looks exactly like footage from a fire in Dubai earlier this year

Dubai has had several fires in high rises, the last in a big hotel/residential building. All the fires seem to spread the same way, starting at the bottom and roaring up the balconies. One has to wonder what they're making them out of.

ETA: This is the hotel. Another was the aptly named Torch Tower. They need to do something about those balconies.

[Eugene]

5. The engineers say they didn't test The Address hotel's cladding for flammability.

Revealed: how The Address Downtown Dubai hotel fire test was ‘meaningless’

http://www.thenational.ae/business/property/revealed-how-the-address-downtown-dubai-hotel-fire-test-was-meaningless

Let's find out what happened this time.

[Warpy]

6. Interesting

Fire spreads so quickly up the outsides of these buildings that I have to wonder what's being used in the concrete, cardboard and old Dixie Cup lids?