Fire in Al Sulafa Tower

[Basset hound]

Hundreds flee fire in 76-storey Dubai Marina tower - The National (http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/hundreds-flee-fire-in-76-storey-dubai-marina-tower)

Any airline personnel living there?

[YYZ]

It was Tamweel Tower, and yes there are/were crew living there, top 15 floors are ruined, and several below are damaged due water, no injuries though, all information from the civil defence.

[Gulfstreamaviator]

post removed, as my post refered to critical report by residents, that was quoted in the newspaper, but unable to re-locate.

Glf

[givemewings]

Bit of a worry considering it's not exactly an old building... there has been some talk/reports (unconfirmed) online that a gas bottle may have been responsible... whatever it was, seems they were very very lucky to get everyone out. Civil Defence by all accounts did all they could, however one guy said in the paper that he just left the apartment as the windows shattered and flames entered

Probably a good idea to make sure you've got a 'grab and go' bag of some sort for situations like this. Many families, inc those with kids, didn't have time to take anything not even a phone.

I'm pretty sure next time our fire alarm goes off, I won't be the only one coming down the stairs like usual...!

Not a nice welome back for anyone off on a work trip. Hopefully if any crew had losses to the apartments the company will let us know how to help...

[Jet II]

Bit of a worry considering it's not exactly an old building...

Age is irrelevant, the reason that the fire was so bad was that the exterior cladding used on most clad buildings in Dubai is not fire resistant. I would suspect that the new crew building in Tecom uses the same cladding as Tamweel and the Belhasa Building that caught fire last month.

[Farrell]

Don't worry!
It will all be repaired like new in a few months...... :E

[givemewings]

Jet, I did read that somewhere after the Sharjah fire. Apparently some new law was passed last month banning a lot of these claddings- not sure if it will apply to existing buildings though.

Whether or not it was the cause of this one, anyone found to have thrown a cig butt and caused (any) fire should be chucked in jail pronto, it's stupid and there is no excuse since most buildings have clear rules on it. Have a friend who lives in building with balconies, she says she regularly has burning cig butts flying down so can no longer hang washing or sit out for any length of time. Since she can't pinpoint the exact flat it is coming from, there is sadly nothing she can do about it - except move. Stupid tw#ts that think it's ok. Imagine if people died from a tossed cigarette. I'm sure in Aus people have gone to jail for starting fires, even unintentionally.

[glofish]

Since I joined I tried to avoid apartments like the plague.

I've seen and heard too much in this country to be comfortable anything like more than 3 stories above ground.

The few more dirty-hams to rent a small villa can save you a lot of headaches.

My two fils

[Old King Coal]

Exemplifying the 'no blame' culture at its best:

Dubai tower fire: Municipality has no authority over free zones - The National (http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/dubai-tower-fire-municipality-has-no-authority-over-free-zones)

[Turkeyslapper]

Interesting and not exactly confidence inspiring account of events from some friends who where there on the night of the fire....apparently, no water pressure, none of the fire hoses therefore worked inside the building, fire alarms not activating, fire service taking up to an hour to arrive on scene and almost two before someone entered the building, etc etc

Pretty ordinary effort which has many of the residents pretty pissed - might have to have an essentials kit next to my front door in future for those quick get aways :ugh:

Cheers

[Bus429]

I lived in Al Sulafa for a year; it has had a couple of conflagrations, too. I now live in Tecom next to the Grand Mill hotel. The alarms go off regularly (usually due to cooking). We've had a couple of real fires: the rubbish room (cigarette) and a few pissed up Brits on the upper floor putting something on the stove and then passing out. In both cases the fire department didn't turn up, the police did but to no effect. Fires were dealt with by the security guard and the cleaner.

I looked at the Tiger Building last year and was put off by the rubbish in the stairwells...

[Dubaian]

BUMP - it's happened again.


Dubai Marina tower fire put out in two hours | GulfNews.com (http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/emergencies/dubai-marina-tower-fire-put-out-in-two-hours-1.1865789)


Fortunately nobody was hurt. Once again the fire progressed up the external cladding of the tower.


By the way although the damage to the Address Hotel from the New Year's Eve fire is being repaired, there is no sign (so far...) that the undamaged but potentially flammable cladding on the rest of the building is also being replaced.