Fire Hits UAE Residential Towers, 5 Injuries Reported

Dubai: Firefighters brought under control a fire that broke out at a residential tower in Ajman in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the city civil defence said today, the latest in a series of blazes in the country's high-rise buildings.

Local media said that five people were treated on the spot for injuuries from the fire which broke out late at night on Monday at the Ajman One, a residential cluster of 12 towers. Fire gutted at least two towers.

Residents of towers were evacuated and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

"Civil defence teams have brought the residential tower fire under control and they are still at the scene conducting cooling off operations," the civil defence said in a message on its Twitter account.

The civil defence made no mention of any casualties from the blaze.

A video posted online by police showed burning debris falling from the building, as police cordoned off roads leading to the site.

It was at least the fourth major high-rise fire in the UAE in three years. Last New Year's Eve, a blaze hit a downtown hotel in Dubai; in February last year, fire broke out at a 79-storey hotel in Dubai, and in November 2012, a 34-storey Dubai residential building was partially gutted.

In some of those cases, experts said the speed at which the fires spread may have been due to the use of flammable cladding on the buildings' exteriors for decoration or insulation.