[Daveography]

Not good...

Inferno at 63-story luxury hotel in Dubai near New Year’s Eve fireworks display
A 5-star Dubai hotel became engulfed in flames as the city was preparing for New Year’s Eve celebrations, with 16 people receiving injuries. Firefighters are currently battling the fire at the 302-meter tall Address Downtown Dubai.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which covered at least 20 stories of the building near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper. Burning debris rained down from the building as firetrucks raced to the scene.

Full Story (RT)

Source: @NisarT (Twitter)

 

[interchange42]

IMO, crazy that Dubai went ahead with the fireworks show. It's like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, and like I've talked over with a friend, if it ultimately ends up as not to disastrous causality-wise (numbers are low for injuries at this point - 14), then entirely tone-deaf.

Are other skyscrapers around the world as poorly prepared for combustion like this one was? I imagine there will be others, but I hope not too many.

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[Marcanadian]

Discuss the impending renovation/rebuild of 'The Address' post-fire.

 

[Daveography]

Are other skyscrapers around the world as poorly prepared for combustion like this one was? I imagine there will be others, but I hope not too many.

Someone elsewhere was saying it was mostly just the exterior cladding that caught fire, which is why it appeared to spread upward so fast, as it wasn't doing so throughout the interior of the building. Still not good, especially having hot firey bits raining down on people waiting for NYE fireworks. I don't know what the laws or codes are like in Dubai, but hopefully this results in some changes to fire resistance/proofing requirements.

 

[interchange42]

Looking forward to pics of the tower post-smoke, and to hearing just what was and wasn't damaged. (How much of the interior was damaged vs. how well did the sprinklers do? Etc.)

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