DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Police in Dubai reopened the streets around one of the world’s tallest residential skyscrapers after firefighters put out a blaze that erupted early Friday in the high-rise, forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of the night and sending chunks of debris plummeting below. One of the world’s tallest residential towers, Dubai’s Torch Tower, caught ablaze in the early hours of the morning, causing the evacuation of the building’s 676 units and leaving lasting damage to the building and its immediately vicinity

This is the second fire to affect the 79-story building in just two years, raising more questions about safety standards of materials used in highrise construction. The same skyscraper was devastated by fire in 2015 (pictured left and right) and the building's flammable cladding, which was similar to that used in Grenfell Tower, was blamed for fuelling the flames He added: 'The fire spread rapidly to other parts of the building mainly due to falling debris of the flammable cladding that was used on the tower, which is similar to other incidences that occurred in other residential towers.' He said he was coming home after midnight when building security guards told him to remain in the street because a fire had erupted. The media office said shortly before 4 a.m. that the fire was brought under control and “cooling operations are underway.”

The Torch Tower also caught fire in February of 2015. HOW CLADDING CAME UNDER THE MICROSCOPE AFTER 2015 TORCH TOWER BLAZE In February 2015 Britons told of their terror as hundreds of residents were evacuated from Torch Tower when a fire broke out (pictured) In February 2015 Britons told of their terror as hundreds of residents were evacuated from one of the world's tallest residential buildings after it was engulfed in flames in the early hours of the morning. The iconic Torch Tower earned its name as one of the first mega rises in Dubai, but last night it literally looked like a torch after the fire engulfed 40 floors. “Dubai Civil Defence has successfully evacuated the Torch tower and is working to bring the fire under control,” it added. New tougher fire regulations for cladding on buildings came into force in the UAE in January following a series of high rise blazes, including the Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai on New Year's Eve 2015, but it is unclear if the repairs to the Torch following the earlier fire would have come under them.
A fire at the 79-story Dubai Torch Tower in the United Arab Emirates, which forced nighttime evacuations, was under control in a few hours with no serious injuries immediately reported. The building's exterior was still being renovated from a fire in February, 2015, which investigators had blamed, at least in part, to flammable siding, echoing the findings of this past June's Grenfell Tower fire in London.