DUBAI — Firefighters brought a fire under control at a tower being built in Dubai’s Downtown district, authorities said on Sunday, the latest in a spate of fires to hit tall buildings in the emirate.
The blaze, which started in the early hours of Sunday morning and sent flames and black smoke into the air, engulfed Address Residences Fountain Views, a 60-storey tower being developed by Emaar Properties.
Roads around the building, located in an area popular with shoppers and tourists, were closed as firefighters tackled the blaze. The Dubai Media Office Twitter account said later that the fire was under control, with cooling operations underway and no injuries reported.
It is the second fire to hit an Emaar building after the developer’s Address Downtown hotel was gutted by a blaze on New Year’s Eve 2015. That building, which is due to reopen before the end of 2017, is located close to Fountain Views.
Sunday’s fire at The Address Residences Fountain Views complex began around 5:30 a.m., just before sunrise.
Maj. Gen. Rashid Thani Al-Matrooshi, the director-general of Dubai Civil Defense, described the fire as an “accident” that started in a parking level of the 72-story Fountain Views building. He did not immediately offer a cause.
Dubai Civil Defense also posted a picture online of three workers it said it rescued from inside the structure. It said the men were taken to a hospital to be examined.
Anthea Ayache, who witnessed the blaze, said firefighters responded quickly and many construction workers were nearby watching the fire from a safe distance.
“There’s so many fire brigades, so they seem to have gotten on top of it very quickly,” she said.
Later Sunday morning, flames still licked out of the podium level of the building as firefighters on ladders shot water inside. Every few minutes, small blasts could be heard, presumably from exploding propane or welding tanks left behind by construction workers. Civil defense officials also flew a drone at one point to watch the blaze.
The high-rise Fountain Views complex, which is being built by state-backed Dubai developer Emaar Properties, eventually will connect to the massive Dubai Mall across the street. It’s planned to eventually be home to 788 apartments and a hotel.
Emaar, which built both the Dubai Mall and the tower struck by the 2015 blaze, declined to immediately comment.
Dramatic fires have hit skyscrapers in Dubai and other fast-growing cities in the United Arab Emirates in recent years. Building and safety experts have cited a popular type of cladding covering the buildings that can be highly flammable. Authorities say they’ve changed fire safety rules in the sheikhdom to address the danger, but have offered few details.
In July last year, a fire gutted the 75-storey Sulafa tower in Dubai marina, with the flames spreading up quickly at least 15 floors of the building.
In 2012, a huge blaze gutted the 34-storey Tamweel Tower in the nearby Jumeirah Lake Towers district. It was later revealed to have been caused by a cigarette butt thrown into a bin. — Agencies
