Breaking: Dubai’s 79-storey Torch Tower on Fire

Ololade Adeyanju/
Fire spread rapidly through a skyscraper in Dubai’s world-famous Marina a little past 12am today.
Alarming footage showed flames climbing up the 79-storey Torch Tower, a residential building popular with expatriates in the United Arab Emirates.
Burning debris could be seen spiraling down to the ground below as firefighters desperately tackled the blaze.
The same skyscraper was devastated by fire in 2015 and the building’s flammable cladding was blamed for fuelling the flames.
A spokesman said: “Firefighting squads from four civil defence stations have been deployed to bring the fire under control and ensure safety of residents.
“Dubai Police Commander in Chief and Dubai Civil Defence Director General are on site following measures to control the fire at the Torch Tower.
“No injuries have been reported so far. Dubai Police will be handling inquiries related to the fire and those affected by it through emergency number 999.”
The cause of the fire is not known yet, but civil defence officials said they had “successfully evacuated” the building and were investigating.
The Torch Tower is the fifth tallest residential building in the world and stands at more than 330 metres (1,105 ft).
It became the tallest residential building in the world in 2011, but lost the record the following year to the neighbouring Princess Tower.
In February 2015, hundreds of residents were evacuated from the same building after it was engulfed in flames in the early hours of the morning.
Flames shot out from two sides of the building and glass and metal rained down from the skyscraper.
According to UAE civil defence teams, the fire spread uncontrollably partly due to flammable exterior cladding panels, similar to those used in Grenfell Tower.
The combination of cheap combustible cladding and insulation has been blamed for the deadly spread of the June 14 fire in west London, which killed at least 80 people.
Experts in the UK have previously voiced concerns that building regulations are unclear on the use of combustible cladding, which paved the way to their use by contractors.