Dubai: Several hours after a fire broke out in the lightning rod of Almas Tower in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers, people who worked in the building were still waiting outside to get their cars out of the building.
The fire in the tallest building in JLT, broke out at around 2.45pm, and the workers were evacuated immediately. “It is a fire in a pole at the top of the tower. We received the emergency call at 2.55pm and the tower was evacuated,” a Dubai Civil Defence spokesperson told Gulf News.
“The fire alarm went off at around 2.45pm and we rushed out. Soon the Civil Defence personnel came in and evacuated everyone and we have been waiting to go back in since then,” said Ashish Rathod, an administration manager who works on the 34th floor of the building.
The fire was contained immediately and within minutes the blaze was put out.
“Dubai Civil Defence has fully brought under control a minor fire that broke out in Almas Tower in Jumeirah Lakes Towers. The building was evacuated safely. No injuries have been reported,” Dubai Media Office said on Twitter.
However, people were not given access inside even three hours after the fire was extinguished, though, there is not much damage to building, except some burnt claddings on the spire.
“My car is in the basement parking and I have been waiting here for more than three hours now. We don’t have any information as to when we will get access inside. I have to go all the way to Sharjah,” said Santosh Vajani, who works on 26th floor of the 68-storey tower.
One of the tallest buildings in Dubai, Almas Tower houses the head offices of the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC) and some of Dubai’s biggest diamond traders.
Hundreds of people work in the building that mostly houses diamond merchants, and the evacuation process was obviously not easy.
“We had to rush down the stairs and a lot of people were going down at the same time. It was a bit chaotic, but thank God there were no issues,” said Sara Zaidi, another staff of a diamond trading firm based in Almas Tower.
While many people chose to wait for their cars, most of the Almas Tower staff left after realising that waiting would be futile.
Dubai Police and Civil Defence cordoned off the tower and the adjoining areas slowing down traffic, while pedestrians had to take a circuitous route away from the zone to reach their destinations, including the JLT metro station.
