Abbco Tower fire: Some residents of Sharjah building may return home soon, say authorities

Tenants of Sharjah's Abbco Tower - whose flats were not affected by the massive fire last week - may soon be able to return to their homes, after safety evaluations and clean-up operations are completed.

On Monday, the Sharjah Municipality started the assessments to determine whether the Abbco Tower in Al Nahda area remains safe. Once cleared, maintenance permits shall be issued; clean-ups will be ramped up; and the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) will be able to restore the electricity in the building.

Investigations conducted by the Sharjah Police revealed that one carelessly discarded cigarette butt caused the fire that ripped through tower last week. Twenty-six apartments were completely destroyed and 64 others were damaged.

Out of the 333 flats in the building, 203 were not affected by the fire, police said. Only those who live in these units will be allowed to go back once all necessary works are done.

Residents who used to live in the heavily damaged apartments will have to stay longer at the nearby hotels, authorities said.

Thabit Al Turaifi, director-general of the Sharjah Municipality, said their team of engineers started the inspections on Monday, after the results of the investigation were released.

"On their first visit, the engineering team reviewed the damage on the tower. In coordination with Sewa and Civil Defence, they are now verifying the building's condition to guarantee the safety of tenants when they return," Al Turaifi said.

He explained that a technical committee was formed to oversee the work and study the necessary procedures to ensure the tower's structural integrity.

Khalifa bin Huda Al Suwaidi, assistant director-general for the engineering and building sector, said that based on their inspection, they can confirm that only parts of the Abbco Tower were damaged, but the cladding on the facade was completely burnt.

Earlier, it was revealed that highly flammable aluminium composite panels were used for the building's cladding. This material has been banned in the UAE since 2017. Sharjah is now ramping up inspections to ensure that this cladding will be removed from all the old buildings in the emirate.

For the Abbco Tower's clean-up, the municipality has provided teams with necessary equipment to clear all the water that accumulated in the building after the firefighting operation.
 
Hassan Al Atefaq, assistant director-general of the agriculture and environment sector, said that once this process is done, Sewa will be able to fix the power lines and restore electricity.

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah

Afkar Ali Ahmed

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com