BREAKING: Huge fire in Dubai hotel skyscraper

a reply to: Jonjonj

better to set them off than moving 1.5 tons of fireworks

originally posted by: Mianeye
a reply to: Dr UAE

That's hard to believe watching the live cam, the fire is growing on the wind side at the moment.

could you provide a link to this Web cam or live cam because there is no wind here at the moment

originally posted by: zenartist
a reply to: Jonjonj

better to set them off than moving 1.5 tons of fireworks

Of course, things should never be put off or cancelled if it is easier to go ahead, ever.

a reply to: Phage


well yeah American Lanterns is a joke. the link seems to be working for me but anyway I uploaded the pics in that message.

Live feed of fire from someone's deck

a reply to: Krakatoa

Despite really wanting to abstain from this discussion, due to generalizations and innaccuracies, and misunderstandings, Ill field this one, briefly, and any other specific questions I am familiar with that anyone wouldnlike to ask me. I have owned and operated multiple fire protection companies, have been a union trained fire sprinkler technician, and am a member in good standing (until i let it lapse, whenever it runs out,Im in a different industry now) of the National Fire Protection Association.

There are 3 requirement for a fire. Fuel, oxygen and an ignition source. Everything is combustible, nothing is fire proof. The simple answer, is no, there is no substance that REQUIRES an accelerant to burn. Fire proof, or resistant, is really just an indication of how long a substance will withstand a fire of a given temperature. Doesnt matter what it is, if you throw it into the sun, it is going to burn.

Another factor to consider, is flame spread index and self extinguishing ability. Some materials will not continue to burn, absent a continual source of additional heat or ignition. Some will allow flame to spread quicker or slower.

ICC writes the building codes, called IBC. This is an international organization. International code council. A quick search should show which code books Dubai has adopted, by year. Most jurisdictions here are still using IBC 2007. In the US, IBC refers to NFPA for their fire coding, as well as electrical codes, which they consider to fall under fire protection. I am not sure how this is handled internationally, but I would be surprised if it is much different.

A fire like this one that spans so many floors in a modern building is likely to be exterior only. Fire sprinklers DO extinguish fires very effectively, when they are inside the building and the system is functioning properly. There are several reasons why this would not be the case, however, it would require multiple system failures for a fire inside a room to reach outside the shell. Exterior shells as well as envelopes between common areas, halways, stairwells, floors etc, are typically designed to a 2 hour fire rating. This means it should take 2 hours for a typical fire to burn through the envelope.

Unless someone broke a window, which should be VERY difficult in a building like this, the fire should be resolved LONG before broaching the shell.

Another possible exception would be some new type materials that have poorly understood fire properties. In other words, perhaps the shell is made of a very fire resistant material, but it is attached with a new adhesive that can act like an accelerant at a certain temperature.

Personally, my guess would be a balcony barbecue left unnattended which eventually caught the shell on fire, and the exterior surface began to burn hot enough for the fire to sustain itself. Left totally unnattended, i would expect it would burn practically the entire exterior of the building, but never actually enter the structure.


Disclaimer. I barely even looked at the pictures, have never been to dubai, and nothing I have said here should be construed as advice or code interpretation. Information only.

a reply to: Domo1

wow they are playing party music and flashing spotlights on the building like its entertainment.

a reply to: Dr UAE

It's not active anymore, it's showing fireworks now.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: zazzafrazz

I know it's incredibly surreal huh?

Even if the building is entirely evacuated firefighters at still going to be at risk.

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
a reply to: Domo1

wow they are playing party music and flashing spotlights on the building like its entertainment.

In case you didn't know, Dubai is "home of the elite". It's where TPTB have invested YOUR tax paying dollars.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

glad its not the burj khalifa

that is one bad ass building

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Social media Video

You can see the flames have fully engulfed the building. Not sure if its been posted. I came to post the story and saw the thread.

The Dubai government said there had been 14 minor injuries, one person was moderately injured and another suffered a heart attack due to overcrowding and smoke at the site.

news.sky.com...

Regarding the decision to do the show anyways, CNN just had a guest who made an interesting point.

He said that had they cancelled there would have been 1 million or so people flooding the streets to leave the scene as opposed to everyone staying in place while the fire apparatuses made their way via open roads.

originally posted by: shadowhit
Just have to wait for it to collapse neatly into it's own footprint. Hope they pull out the firemen in time.

Okay, some facts and reality for all the idiotic "truthers" on here:

World Trade Center Towers:
Opened in 1973.
Designed to withstand the impact of a passenger jet AT THAT TIME (Boeing 747)

The Address Tower Dubai:
Opened in 2009
Designed AFTER the 9/11 attacks

Now, if the Address tower had been hit by modern jet planes loaded with fuel, weakening several floors of the tower, with the weight of the structure above suddenly dropping onto the floors below, then MAYBE it would fall like the twin towers did. That's a BIG maybe, considering every tall building designed since 9/11 would have that risk factored into the design.

Of course, the "truthers" don't actually want to consider common sense, reality, or actual truth, most of them just want to have their paranoid delusions supported by YouTube propaganda videos by the likes of Infowars.