Minor fire in sauna of fifth floor gym quickly contained in wee hours of Sunday

Dubai: Residents of the 87-storey Torch Tower in Dubai Marina were evacuated in the wee hours of Sunday following a fire, the third one to hit the in the last three years.

The “minor” fire was reported in the sauna of the gym on the fifth floor and affected tenants from fifth to 16th floor, according to social media posts by residents.

Residents from all the floors in the building — one of the tallest residential towers in the world — were evacuated and the fire was quickly contained by the building security with the support of the Dubai Civil Defence, tenants said.

“I can’t believe I just walked from 75th floor to ground floor, I thought I was fit but naa,” tweeted one resident with the Twitter handle @_LordJude.

Families with kids were let back in the building by 2.45am, after an hour the fire was reported, according to a tweet by @FirasWahida.

Subsequently, the rest of the residents were also allowed in.

On August 4, 2017, a fire raced across the structural facade from 38 floors across 64 floors, forcing 475 people to flee to safety.

Police investigations blamed a cigarette butt being thrown into a potted plant which began to smoulder until it caught fire.

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.