Fire extinguished at Torch tower in Dubai Marina

The Torch tower building at the Dubai Marina that caught fire early on Saturday morning.- KT photo by Leslie Pableo/ Khaleej Times

Dubai: The Dubai Civil Defence has put out a fire that erupted in the Torch tower located in Dubai Marina. Major General Rashid Al Matroushi said that the Dubai Civil defense operations room had received a report from the Dubai Police Operation room at around 1:49 am that a fire had broken out in the Torch towers which has 87 storey’s and 676 apartments.

It was after this that the Civil Defense brigades from various stations including Al Ras , and Al Rashidiya,  Al Manara, A Hamriya, Al Quoz, Marina  and Al Barsha had been dispatched.

Upon their arrival at around 1:58am the Civil Defense teams found that a fire had broken out in an apartment on the 51^st floor. The apartment was on the side facing the Al Sufouh. The fire spread to the 83^rd floor due to strong winds.  

The Civil Defense immediately conducted the evacuation of residents from the Torch tower. The residents were kept away from the fire to prevent injuries. Only seven cases of minor suffocation were found and they were immediately treated at the scene by ambulance services.

The fire brigades managed to put out the fire by 4:24am  and began the cooling operations soon after.

Al Matroushi has expressed deep appreciation for the assistance provided by Dubai Civil Defense who were at the forefront of fire scene. He also thanked the Dubai Police Force, ambulance services, the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai and Dubai Municipality for their cooperation and coordination during the crisis. He also noted the importance of early intervention by the Dubai Police and the Dubai  Civil Defense operations room that reduced the response time.

He added that the accident proved the ability of Civil Defense teams in putting out a fire and preventing its. They used advanced tactics to put the fire from where it started, moving towards the building and then down to the surrounding areas.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Commander-In-Chief of Dubai Police, said that there is no criminal suspect behind the fire incident, which he described as simple and did not cause serious damages as the Civil Defence timely intervened to extinguish the fire.

He explained that the accident resulted in minor damages in a number of balcony apartments triggered by blowing flames, adding that some passersby sustained minor injuries and were treated at the scene of the incident.

Al Mazeina noted that the scene of incident was examined by the forensic experts of the General Department of Criminal Evidence and Criminology at Dubai Police, to compile a technical report to determine cause of the fire.

He commended the efforts of the firefighters and ambulance, adding that they swung to the scene of incident, where they doused the fire and treated the injured.

The fire fighters used water lines and pumps inside the tower. The fire-fighting teams were led by Major Ali Hassan Al Mutawa, Director of Operations at the Dubai Civil Defense, Major Hussein Rahoomi, Director of the Civil Defense stations and Abdul Rahman, the Director of the Jebel Ali station. He said that the fire site had been cordoned  and handed over to the Dubai Police fire and forensic experts to investigate the cause of the fire.

With inputs from Wam

amira@khaleejtimes.com