Discussion for article #244245
Appears to be a problem throughout the Dubai, buildings clad with insulated aluminum panels, the insulation used is quite flammable. Couple that with some strong winds and any fire can spread quickly. In the US we are getting away from such design, using instead mineral wool insulation with minimal fire and smoke spread. Luckily no injuries in this one. But lots of damage.
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The developer of a Dubai skyscraper that caught fire on New Year’s Eve … says it will quickly repair the building.
They are in constant contact with tRump, right? To make it yuger and (cl)Assier.
I was shocked by how fast the fire spread. I didn’t think this was possible in a modern building.
It’s very possible for sure, but the wind factor really helped the spread, as noted it was a fire at the exterior walls.
And there are plenty of flammable materials in buildings. Any extruded insulation, carpet, mastics, windows treatments, etc., these are all made from petroleum products. Very flammable, look at product data sheets for these things and they always have high flame and smoke spread.
Sprinkler systems can be very effective, but not for an exterior wall.
I doubt wind was a major factor in the fire’s spread. I live in Dubai on the 40th floor of a building where I definitely notice how windy it is or isn’t. New Year’s Eve this year was definitely not at all windy, unusual for this time of year. The lack of a breeze in the hours leading up to midnight was noticed by all of my guests when they stood on the balcony.
Construction standards here leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately, everything is made of cement, which somewhat mitigates the fire risk. Still, electrical fires are fairly common. I’ve seen more than one wall outlet flame out during my five years here.
Also, the AP story mentioned “the son” of the Sheikh being one of the first responders. In fact, he is “a son” (the Sheikh has 9 sons in all, one of them recently deceased from a recent heart attack at the age of 33). He’s fathered 14 daughters. The video released by the Dubai police of the son was, in my opinion, calculated PR.
According to this, the wind was 9 mph, which would definitely spread a fire on the exterior wall of the building.
Winds of that speed on 9/11 for Flight 93 blew light debris well over a mile.
I think you mean concrete. And that does not mean “everything” is made of concrete. The point was to get away from the original WTC design, which had no above grade structural concrete. So it was important to introduce structural concrete back into design to prevent “collapses”. But you still have lots of flammables, that can’t be avoided. But the big factor here was the foam insulation sandwiched in the aluminum facade panels. That stuff is highly flammable. And it has been used here in the US considerably for those panels as well, though they are starting to use more mineral wool instead now due to fire considerations. Once that caught fire, the wind definitely contributed to the spread, plus such things are just highly flammable, as we have seen in many night club fires, etc.
Agree 100%. And they are common here too, especially in older buildings.
As a follow up, someone sent me this. Very interesting reading.