Dubai has suffered another major fire in a building covered in non flame-retardant foam insulating sandwich panels. The fire spread over more than 30 floors of the 63-storey Sulafa Tower residential building, causing a number of minor injuries and resulting in evacuation of hundreds of families.
This is the fourth major skyscraper cladding fire in Dubai since 2012 (see pinfa Newsletter n° 62). Reports say that the fire in the building insulation covering panels “spread like wildfire” and led to chunks of burning debris falling on surrounding buildings, swimming pools, passers-by and workmen. Dubai introduced fire safety standards for composite cladding materials in 2013 for all new buildings over 15m tall, but older buildings are not yet being modified because the cost would be considerable.
BBC News 20th July 2016.