Dubai: Police investigations revealed that the fire at the Torch Tower in Dubai Marina on August 4 this year could have been caused due to cigarette butts being thrown into a potted plant which began to smoulder until it caught fire.
Police carried out similar experiments to gauge whether throwing a cigarette butt in a pot could lead to a fire and found that it gradually did.
The Torch Tower fire raced across the structural facade forcing 475 people to flee to safety from the 87-storey.
Firefighters doused the second blaze at the tower in as many years in record time without any injuries or causalities.
Speaking on the sidelines of a day-long seminar on fire prevention in Dubai for first responders, Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police said the risk to human lives, financial losses and property damages could have been minimised during the fire if security staff were more well versed in safety procedures.
“These men should be qualified and equipped with enough skills to deal with any tragedy. They need to begin the evacuation process immediately and know how to manage evacuating people with special needs and the injured,” said the Dubai Police chief.
“The security guards are responsible for the safety of residential buildings. The last Torch Tower fire saw financial losses, especially to cars that were badly damaged because they were wrongly parked,” said Maj Gen Al Merri.
Dubai Civil Defence officials attending the seminar revealed that electrical faults and cigarette butts are the leading causes of fires in Dubai since 2015.
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