Sharjah fire: Aluminium cladding blamed as authorities to probe towers across emirate

Abbco Tower was built using a type of aluminium composite panel cladding, which fire-hit Torch, Zen and Adriatic towers also featured

Sharjah is to replace hazardous cladding on buildings, with work starting this week. Such cladding was cited as the cause of a major blaze at Abbco Tower in the emirate in 2020. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Abbco Tower in Sharjah after the massive fire. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Abbco Tower the morning after the fire. Sharjah. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Abbco Tower in Sharjah after the massive fire. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Abbco Tower in Sharjah was gutted in the fire. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The area around Sharjah's Abbco Tower. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The damaged Abbco Tower after a huge blaze on Tuesday night. The building was fitted with cladding that was banned in 2016. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Families watch as flames spread through their building late on Tuesday night. Several surrounding towers were evacuated as a precaution. All photos by Antonie Robertson / The National

The fire quickly spread through the building, gutting apartments and sending debris raining down on vehicles below.

Dozens of firefighters and vehicles were at the scene shortly after the fire was first reported about 8.30pm on Tuesday.

Exhausted crews take a brief break and check their equipment.

The fire in Sharjah lit up the night sky.

Buildings in the area are tightly packed together and several were evacuated amid fears the blaze could spread.

Many residents said they did not have home insurance and fear their lost possessions cannot be replaced.

The blaze continued into the night with crews remaining at the scene on Wednesday morning to dampen the building.

Some tenants managed to grab a handful of possessions before fleeing the tower.

Residents watch on as the fire is contained.

The fire in Sharjah was reported after 8.30pm.

Damage to the rear side of the building was not as severe leading some to hope they can recover their belongings.

A police officer collects testimonies from the residents. EPA

Police officers take residents' details as they try to arrange accommodation.

There were more than 300 apartments inside the 48-storey building and many are shared by tenants and families.

Fadlallahie Hassoun cradles his cat after escaping the building.

The building burned for several hours before it was brought under control.

Charity workers from Emirates Red Crescent hand out water and juice and take down details to arrange accommodation.

Families fear they will not be allowed to return to collect belongings for days if not weeks.

Civil Defence forces extinguish the fire. EPA

People stand on a bridge and watch a fire that erupts in a 48-storey residential tower in Sharjah. AFP

Residents of the burning high-rise building look on as fire-fighting efforts continue. EPA

A high-rise tower that was gutted when a blaze tore through it on Tuesday night was covered with cladding that was banned on new buildings three years ago.

Sharjah's Abbco Tower was built in 2005 with an external material that was widely used in the Emirates until it was prohibited in January 2017.

Flames spread up and around the 48-storey building in minutes after it was first reported about 9pm.

It took several fire crews about three hours to bring the blaze under control, as debris rained down on parked vehicles.

Despite the intensity of the blaze, hundreds of residents escaped quickly, running down fire escapes in the 190-metre tower, one of Sharjah's tallest. Fire alarms that sounded in more than 300 apartments were credited with saving lives and only seven people were injured.

“The fire spread faster because of the cladding," Col Sami Al Naqbi, head of Sharjah Civil Defence, said.

"Since the building is somewhat old, it was installed with the cladding before it was banned."

Brig Ahmed Al Serkal, head of the forensic laboratory at Sharjah Police, said government officials were meeting to look at how widely the cladding was used and if it could be removed from towers built pre-2017.

"Cladding helps to spread fire from one floor to the other very fast," he said.

He said the cause was being investigated.

“For us to give the accurate cause of fire, our experts still need to examine the place, after firefighters search the building flat by flat to make sure no one was left behind,” he said.

The material is a form of aluminium composite panel cladding and was widely used during the UAE's construction boom.

It was a factor in several fires including The Torch and Zen Tower in Dubai Marina, the Address Downtown and the Adriatic building on the Palm Jumeirah. In all four buildings it was replaced during extension renovation.

The cladding, which gives buildings a sleek modern look and was cheap and easy to install, was also used on London's Grenfell Tower, in which 72 people died when a fire gutted the building in June 2017.

Grenfell was built in the early 1970s but fitted with cladding during a renovation in 2015-16 to improve energy efficiency and give it a fresher look.

Aluminium composite panel cladding was prohibited in UAE when the country's Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice was updated in 2016. It was made public in January 2017.

Builders must now use more expensive non-combustible cladding that better halts the spread of flames, but the authorities have not ordered that older buildings be retrofitted.

Andy Dean, head of facades at engineering firm WSP's Middle East office, said the industry was well are of the safety issues cladding poses.

"The problem was there was a lack of knowledge about façade cladding and there was no coupling between the fire and façade industries until 2012," he said, the same year Tamweel Tower in Dubai's Jumeirah Lakes Towers was left uninhabitable by a huge fire, and when the first update to the safety code began to tighten building regulations.

"People thought they were doing the right thing by using them. They are a low cost material that is high performing and durable."

The cost involved of stripping cladding from a building would be in the millions - Zen Tower's reconstruction and cladding removal was Dh25 million - but he said many companies were willing to face the problem.

"Retro fitting is absolutely feasible, it’s been happening here for at least five years or more," Mr Dean said.

"It’s not uncommon for the big developers to ask us “'can you tell me if my building is a problem?'”

"But it’s difficult and hugely expensive to take an entire façade off a building and replace it."

If full-scale renovation of a building is not possible, engineers may look at fire breaks - flame-proof barriers installed every 10 to 20 metres.

In many cases, he said safety could be improved significantly by ensuring sprinklers were installed and working and that alarm systems are up to date.

"A large part of the existing building stock has a problem and that can’t be ignored," he said.

"Things are changing here though, buildings are dramatically safer than years ago because of the introduction of the 2012 fire safety code."