UAE | Emergencies

Fire breaks out at Tamweel Tower in Jumeirah Lake Towers

Police begin probe into cause of fire that displaced hundreds of people

Staff Report
Published: 11:00 November 18, 2012

Image Credit: AP
Flames engulf a portion of Tamweel residential tower at Jumeirah Lakes Towers, in Dubai, on Sunday.

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Dubai: Police have started investigations into the cause of a fire at Tamweel Tower in Jumeirah Lake Towers on Sunday.

The fire left hundreds of people displaced and damaged several apartments. Falling debris damaged at least four vehicles and a playground near the building.

The fire started at 1:30am, with residents reporting that the fire started at the roof of the 34-storey building, near the air conditioning plant.

Falling flaming debris then caused most of the balconies to also catch fire, and the wind helped the fire spread, pushing the flames inside the building.

Residents of the building and the nearby Al Seef building were evacuated.

No one was reported injured in the blaze, the Civil Defence told Gulf News.

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Video

Tamweel Tower fire caught on video

Witnesses took to the social networking site Twitter to report difficulties faced by firefighters in extinguishing the fire, which was burning its way up to the upper part of the building.

A resident told Gulf News that when he and his wife vacated their apartment, they saw fire coming out from their neighbour's apartment. "We had no idea the upper floors were also on fire. We tried to douse off the fire with buckets of water, before the sprinklers finally went on and we evacuated the building," he said.

The fire was put out at around 8:19am, the Civil Defence said.

Smoke could still be seen billowing from the building at around 11:30am and police have cordoned off the area.

JLT resident Monstilus posted on Youtube a video of the fire, which "happened outside my house."

"Apparently the whole building caught fire and some cars in the area. Big blasts throughout the night. From what I heard, everyone evacuated safely," Monstilus said.

Comments (18)

Added 16:55 November 18, 2012

Thank God there were no injuries, many thanks to the great efforts of the Civil Defense. Long live UAE.

Osama Sartawi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Added 16:38 November 18, 2012

I live in the X1 tower and we too were evacuated. At 2pm today, firefighters were in the building working on what I am guessing was still smoldering apartments. My husband and I had just returned home and saw from the bedroom window that the fire was on the ground level and traveled up a wire to the top. Did not see any flames on the roof at that time. I struggle to understand why the power was not cut off as we could see the apartments that still had lights on while others, just floors away, burned through the night. At least there is good news that no one was injured. This is very sad and it seems that it could easily happen in any one of the high-rise apartments here.

Anonymous, Dubai, United States

Added 15:18 November 18, 2012

My sympathies with the families who had to be evacuated. I went through the same in April this year when the Al Tayer building in Sharjah was on fire. No body compensated anyone though we lost everything we made in all these years in UAE.

Anonymous, dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 15:02 November 18, 2012

Sad news indeed. We know a family who is very dear to us, who lived in this building. They were so graciously let us stay at their place before we came back to Australia a couple of years ago. Thanks be to God they are all safe and we pray for them and for everyone else affect by this tragedy. Wishing everyone love, peace and bright hopes for a new start.

Anonymous, Trinity Park, Australia

Added 14:28 November 18, 2012

This is the problem of most of the towers ,once the fire catches one flat it will spread in two minuties to the whole tower.

Anonymous, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Added 13:59 November 18, 2012

I live across from Tamweel in Cluster Y, and stood in my balcony all night witnessing the fire which was really cordoned off to the top right end of the tower and started spreading rapidly along the structure and further down to the balconies of the apartments. It was so difficult to see the whole building engulfed overnight. Frankly concerned now about the safety of our building , are these houses covered under insurance? People lost their entire house in this fire, I hope and pray for them to be able to return to normal livelihood soon.

Rashi, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 13:57 November 18, 2012

I live in the same cluster U next to Tamweel Tower. Upon hearing the fire alarma we rushed from 21st Floor to ground floor. What we saw was the worst waiting to happen, flying debris falling on the parked cars. Best thing was the way Emergency Response team from Dubai Police and Civil Defence Responded. Hats off to those firemen who were struglling for almost 6-7 hrs to control the fire.

Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 13:46 November 18, 2012

I live in JLT and was fascinated this morning by the calm and sensible driving from those who normally are going to work or school (busses, too) that made U turns when seeing the blocked area. Even though the roadway is usually one-way, everyone was courteous and cautious in allowing the road to become two-way traffic for those turning around from the blocked area. My prayers are with those who are displaced and I am so thankful there were no reported injuries. Amazing!

Lois Truman, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 13:04 November 18, 2012

Glad to hear that everyone is safe. More unpleasant to hear these incidents happen more frequently these days in high rise buildings. Which worries me a lot being a resident myself in JLT in a higher floor. Our fire alarm goes several times in the week and even during the night which we intend to ignore however this should be a high alert and it seems that the building management and/or owners or whoever responsible does not seem to bother about maintaining fire safety regulations. We should all be alerted at all times and be aware of our building maintenance and security and safety.

Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 12:51 November 18, 2012

I'm glad to hear that the authorities got everything under control and that no one was injured, the fire authorities of the UAE are pretty impressive But fact is every few weeks i hear about a fire in some residential tower, and from personal experience i've noticed it is not only because of careless tenants, but also from very irresponsible and careless maintenance of the building. I hope the tenants of this building recover their losses and get back to normal life as soon as possible.

Sarim, Dubai, United Arab Emirates