Inside a charred room of The Address Hotel

Dubai: Settling down on her couch for an evening of television, Christina Bonnard was looking forward to spending a calm New Year’s Eve at her 53rd floor apartment at The Address, Downtown. At midnight, she intended to watch the spectacular fireworks at Burj Khalifa from her apartment facing the iconic structure. But soon, her peaceful evening would take an entirely different turn.

Speaking to Gulf News about her escape from the fire that broke out at The Address Hotel, Downtown on the night of December 31, just hours before the midnight fireworks display, Bonnard said she was startled at first to see a thick curtain of smoke outside her living room’s windows.

She jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen, confused and in shock as she wondered whether it was a fire or a sandstorm.

“[Then] I saw flashes of light reflecting on my window as it turned black. There was something going on, but [at the time] I didn’t know what it was or what I was supposed to do. So I grabbed my phone and shoes and opened the front door to check if there was any movement in the corridors outside.”

She looked back at the windows in her apartment only to see them being eaten up by the fire. “I took the fire exit and rushed down the stairs.”

The Swiss-French tenant of eight months said her only objective at the point was to escape. “I feared I would reach some lower levels and be confronted by the fire. I was worried I would suffocate. I wanted to make sure my partner knew I was escaping a fire, so I messaged him, in case I couldn’t make it out.”

She joined others down the staircase, and said that many were still not aware of what exactly was happening outside. “I did not face smoke [in the stairwell], but it was crowded. People began to queue at the lower levels and there were some with suitcases blocking the way and some elderly people moving slowly. Though I don’t like crowded places, it was a matter of survival and it was important to stay calm.”

Having safely reached the ground level and out of the building, Bonnard felt lost and unable to come to terms with what had happened. “I was finding my way out of the crowds. I had no money or ID, and thought I would be stranded on the streets. I knew I had lost everything inside [my apartment].”

Recalling that evening, Bonnard says that for a while, she was so distraught she thought she may end up having to sleep on the streets.

She called up a family friend who lives in Business Bay and walked to their house as they could not come to pick her up due to the roads being blocked. She stayed with them overnight and the next day, she was provided with an alternative accommodation.

This morning, Bonnard was informed that she would be escorted to her burnt apartment to salvage whatever she could though she was not looking forward to seeing her apartment or hopeful of finding anything in it.

However, later this afternoon, she was told that only a portion of her apartment was affected by the fire while the rest was covered with soot.

Bonnard left her apartment having taken “50 per cent of my belongings. I think only 10 per cent can be recovered,” she said.

What she also took away with her was how she felt inside what was once her home. “I couldn’t breathe inside the apartment.”