A fire at one of the world’s tallest residential towers lit up the Dubai skyline last night and dropped flaming debris from more than 270 metres (900ft).
The blaze at The Torch tower was the second in two years and has raised fresh questions about the cladding used on the 86-storey, 337 metre structure. There were no reports of anybody injured.
Residents evacuated from the tower said that the fire started on the upper floors and spread when burning material began to tumble down the side of the building.
During the 2015 fire flames shot up the side of the building and an investigation concluded that most of the damage was to the cladding.
After the Grenfell Tower fire in west London in June in which at least 80 people died United Arab Emirates media have reported that about 250 high-rise buildings use cladding panels with similar, potentially flammable, thermoplastic cores.
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Last night’s fire started at about 1am and was brought under control by fire crews by 4am. Internal alarms meant that all 676 flats were evacuated. “No injuries have been reported so far in The Torch tower fire incident,” the government of Dubai tweeted, adding that “cooling operations were under way”.
The UAE revised its building safety code in 2013 to require cladding on all new buildings over 15 metres tall be fire-resistant, but older buildings are exempt. The Torch tower was completed in 2011.