Yet another skyscraper has suffered a major fire in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The luxury Adriatic building in the Oceana complex, Palm Jumierah, 12th December, is reported to have started with an electrical fault in a coffee machine, before spreading through flammable exterior cladding panels.
The UEA is currently preparing an update of its building fire safety code. Exterior claddings installed in buildings before 2012 did not have to be fire safety treated and a number of major fires have occurred, see Sulafa Tower fire (pinfa Newsletter n°69) and Address hotel fire (pinfa Newsletter n°62).
“Coffee machine clue to Dubai fire which burned through building ‘like it was made of paper’” http://www.thenational.ae/uae/environment/coffee-machine-clue-to-dubai-fire-which-burned-through-building-like-it-was-made-of-paper