No injuries in late-night Reem Island fire

The fire, which started at one of the tower’s upper floors at about 11.30pm, was contained within an hour by Abu Dhabi Civil Defence.

The under-construction Kite Residences tower on Reem Island burns late on Sunday evening. Courtesy George Hanna

ABU DHABI // The exterior of an under-construction building was badly damaged on Sunday night when a fire broke out at The Kite Residences on Al Reem Island.

The blaze, which started on one of the tower’s upper floors at about 11.30pm, was contained within an hour by Abu Dhabi Civil Defence.

No injuries were reported.

“They got the fire out relatively quickly but according to security there was a lot of damage done to the outside, said Thomas Williams, a residential consultant who lives at The Gate Towers.

“Structurally the building is still standing and apparently it was the outside of the building that caught fire. They’re in the processing of finishing it, so a lot of the units have already been sold.”

Daniel Ribeiro, a resident of Oceanscape, next to The Kite Residences, was woken by the fire, which spread from the upper to the lower storeys of the building.

“We went out on the balcony at midnight and saw the fire at one corner of the building, and some parts of the building material were falling off,” he said. “The fire quickly spread to the lower level of the building. Within minutes, about 30 firefighters and police officers responded.”

The 22-floor tower by Aabar Properties has 126 residential units above four podium levels and is currently unoccupied.

Authorities are still investigating the fire cause.

Aabar Properties did not respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE: Reem Island tower construction resumes after blaze