Address hotel in Dubai in flames.

Pretty crazy. Twitter feed covering the fire.

Good luck putting that fire out... damn!

The burning balls of fire shooting out at the bottom of the building in the beginning, is that people jumping out? In any event, god damn that's scary!!

Pretty nuts they continued with that massive fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa next door.

How does an entire building catch fire so fast, something fishy .

Woke up to a thousand texts asking what the heck happened. Hopped online worried there was a terrorist attack.

 

UAE news is very limited right now which is a surprise. Usually they are ahead of CNN and the likes.

Everything I can find locally says the fire was 90% contained with in 2 hours. 14 were injured. Nobody dead. Looked way worse than it was because it was the facade that was on fire and not the actual interior.

 

I may try to go up next weekend with some friends and take a look first hand.

Woke up to a thousand texts asking what the heck happened. Hopped online worried there was a terrorist attack.

 

UAE news is very limited right now which is a surprise. Usually they are ahead of CNN and the likes.

 

Just say, you and the family are okay.

Just say, you and the family are okay.

All good here. Safe and sound in Hong Kong for New Years! Plus our place is in Abu Dhabi and not Dubai.

 

HOWEVER the gent I bought my S8 off of lives in the villas right there. He said it was Scarry as hell and made for a very subdued new years celebration.

All good here. Safe and sound in Hong Kong for New Years! Plus our place is in Abu Dhabi and not Dubai.

 

HOWEVER the gent I bought my S8 off of lives in the villas right there. He said it was Scarry as hell and made for a very subdued new years celebration.

 

He just messaged me and said it was some dude BBQing on his balcony.

How does an entire building catch fire so fast, something fishy .

 

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

 

Very modern building done to the latest codes, probably some more stringent than what we have in the US because of "super tall" status....fully sprinklered building, pressurized shafts, etc.

 

Just doesn't happen that easily without some help.

He just messaged me and said it was some dude BBQing on his balcony.

 

Feel there's more to it than that.

 

 

How does an entire building catch fire so fast, something fishy .

 

As I suspected is the cladding material they use, the composite is manufactured in China some manufacturers failed to build them to the right fire resistance specification. Some builders due to cost don't even use fire resistant cores they buy the cheapest on the market.

 

There were similar fires in China involving the cladding where entire facades were engulfed extremely quickly, there were recalls on specific brands and construction rules and requirements changed but a little too late when you already have hundreds of thousands of sq meters cladding buildings all over the world.

 

Pretty scary!

 

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1801571

 

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/experts-quer...dubai-buildings

 

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/ne...ourne-apartment

 

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/replacin...528-ghbsu4.html

 

They should be using a fire retardant core but due to cost of that particular material most don't.

 

As I suspected is the cladding material they use, the composite is manufactured in China some manufacturers failed to build them to the right fire resistance specification. Some builders due to cost don't even use fire resistant cores they buy the cheapest on the market.

 

There were similar fires in China involving the cladding where entire facades were engulfed extremely quickly, there were recalls on specific brands and construction rules and requirements changed but a little too late when you already have hundreds of thousands of sq meters cladding buildings all over the world.

 

Pretty scary!

 

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1801571

 

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/experts-quer...dubai-buildings

 

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/ne...ourne-apartment

 

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/replacin...528-ghbsu4.html

 

They should be using a fire retardant core but due to cost of that particular material most don't.

 

 

Oh man, if this is true, what a terrible shame on these guys.

 

Very surprising, but also explains how something like this could happen.

 

Pretty much defeats the whole purpose of Type IA non combustible construction.

 

This sorta thing cannot be left in the hands of a GC, at any costs. There should be a provision in the building code for the specifications of exterior cladding (if there isn't already, I'm not readily familiar with this), and a special inspection to verify it.

 

I guess this incident is maybe reasonable progress in fire protection -- a big fire with no casualties to expose this sorta thing. Hopefully the message is loud and clear enough without a 9/11 level of atrocities.

 

 

No sure if this is has any bearing and I am no expert at all.

 

Many years ago, Alucobond was introduced to China and it was extremely well received. Then a Taiwanese company somewhat "borrowed" the concept from Alucobond and made its own panel at 1/3 the cost and, naturally, that was even better received. And then China made its own version of the panel. I know there are an abundance of construction workers in Dubai that are from China but I have no idea as to whom supplied the exterior panels for these towers. But if one puts 2 & 2 together, well then...damn!

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

 

Very modern building done to the latest codes, probably some more stringent than what we have in the US because of "super tall" status....fully sprinklered building, pressurized shafts, etc.

 

Just doesn't happen that easily without some help.

 

Does Dubai build to the latest codes, or are they more like China where the building codes are often non-existent?

In my (limited) experience so far they try to do it right. When they don't (like with this fire) they are very quick to learn and implement new rules. I'd be willing to bet someone used substandard material on purpose to pocket the difference and are about to be in a world of hurt.

 

As for the slave labor there is no doubt the labor camps here are what allow them to build so quickly and inexpensively. However the government is constantly cracking down on abuse and improving workers rights. Passports are not allowed to be held by the employer (not saying that doesn't still happen) and there are consequences for mistreating the workers.

 

They do get paid very poorly compared to what the western world considers a standard wage however they do have some perks such as meals and housing provided.

 

I think about this all the time at work when I am in there being paid as an expert and every labor worker is saying "hi boss" as I walk by. Knowing I can make in a day what some of these guys are making in a month is humbling and reminds me to always treat them with respect and dignity. It also causes me to take stock in how fortunate I am to be born where I was to the parents I was and afforded the opportunities I was.

 

I've talked about this before in my S8 and my Abu Dhabi thread so I will get off of the soap box now.

No sure if this is has any bearing and I am no expert at all.

 

Many years ago, Alucobond was introduced to China and it was extremely well received. Then a Taiwanese company somewhat "borrowed" the concept from Alucobond and made its own panel at 1/3 the cost and, naturally, that was even better received. And then China made its own version of the panel. I know there are an abundance of construction workers in Dubai that are from China but I have no idea as to whom supplied the exterior panels for these towers. But if one puts 2 & 2 together, well then...damn!

 

Could very well be what happened. Most of the workers I deal with or see at work are Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Philippino.

 

Pretty nuts they continued with that massive fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa next door.

No way were they going to stop that. I'm surprised they admitted to even considering it. However according to the Civil Defense they had 90% of the fire contained within 2 hours making the situation far less intense. They also knew at the time that the cladding was burning and not the actual interior making the images appear far more intense then they actually were. I know I thought it was burning from the inside out and not just on the surface and wondered how the heck they were going to put it out.

Oh man, if this is true, what a terrible shame on these guys.

 

Very surprising, but also explains how something like this could happen.

 

Pretty much defeats the whole purpose of Type IA non combustible construction.

 

This sorta thing cannot be left in the hands of a GC, at any costs. There should be a provision in the building code for the specifications of exterior cladding (if there isn't already, I'm not readily familiar with this), and a special inspection to verify it.

 

I guess this incident is maybe reasonable progress in fire protection -- a big fire with no casualties to expose this sorta thing. Hopefully the message is loud and clear enough without a 9/11 level of atrocities.

 

You have to come over here on an expat assignment buddy and teach them a thing or two!

Oh man, if this is true, what a terrible shame on these guys.

 

Very surprising, but also explains how something like this could happen.

 

Pretty much defeats the whole purpose of Type IA non combustible construction.

 

This sorta thing cannot be left in the hands of a GC, at any costs. There should be a provision in the building code for the specifications of exterior cladding (if there isn't already, I'm not readily familiar with this), and a special inspection to verify it.

 

I guess this incident is maybe reasonable progress in fire protection -- a big fire with no casualties to expose this sorta thing. Hopefully the message is loud and clear enough without a 9/11 level of atrocities.

 

That's how most of the lessons are being learned.

No sure if this is has any bearing and I am no expert at all.

 

Many years ago, Alucobond was introduced to China and it was extremely well received. Then a Taiwanese company somewhat "borrowed" the concept from Alucobond and made its own panel at 1/3 the cost and, naturally, that was even better received. And then China made its own version of the panel. I know there are an abundance of construction workers in Dubai that are from China but I have no idea as to whom supplied the exterior panels for these towers. But if one puts 2 & 2 together, well then...damn!

 

Bingo.

 

I believe the material was initially developed by Mitsubishi, now it's mass produced in China at a fraction of the cost, I've seen a lot of different brands popping up over the years, the quality varies from pure junk to acceptable.

 

There is a big difference in cost depending on quality fire and non fire retardant material, in some instances more than double, when you specify a high-rise where tens of 1000's of sqm are required the price difference can be an arm twister and if the laws aren't there to stop them they won't care.

No way were they going to stop that. I'm surprised they admitted to even considering it. However according to the Civil Defense they had 90% of the fire contained within 2 hours making the situation far less intense. They also knew at the time that the cladding was burning and not the actual interior making the images appear far more intense then they actually were. I know I thought it was burning from the inside out and not just on the surface and wondered how the heck they were going to put it out.

 

I know you're still relatively new to the region, but the local news is less trust worthy than tabloid papers.

 

 

It will be interesting to see how the blame gets placed.

http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/20...t-40-years.html

 

"What makes the U.S. different than those countries where such exterior wall fires are occurring? The fire protection engineering community in the U.S. foresaw the increasing use of combustible components in exterior wall construction decades ago. Through industry-funded research, an appropriate test method was developed to determine if a given wall assembly could support a self-accelerating and self-spreading fire up the wall, either through the outside surface, through concealed spaces within the wall, or by spreading fire into interior floor areas on stories above. The test method, NFPA 285, Standard Fire Test Method for Evaluation of Fire Propagation Characteristics of Exterior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Assemblies Containing Combustible Components, has been applied nationally by adopting the model building codes and has resulted in an existing building stock with exterior walls that are inherently resistant to self-propagating fires."

 

 

http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/20...t-40-years.html

 

"What makes the U.S. different than those countries where such exterior wall fires are occurring? The fire protection engineering community in the U.S. foresaw the increasing use of combustible components in exterior wall construction decades ago. Through industry-funded research, an appropriate test method was developed to determine if a given wall assembly could support a self-accelerating and self-spreading fire up the wall, either through the outside surface, through concealed spaces within the wall, or by spreading fire into interior floor areas on stories above. The test method, NFPA 285, Standard Fire Test Method for Evaluation of Fire Propagation Characteristics of Exterior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Assemblies Containing Combustible Components, has been applied nationally by adopting the model building codes and has resulted in an existing building stock with exterior walls that are inherently resistant to self-propagating fires."

 

That's very smart! I wonder how much of the aluminum cladding, if any, is used in construction in the US, they do have a fire resistant version but as I said it isn't cheap.