Fire sweeps Sharjah tower

Fire sweeps Sharjah tower Afkar Abdullah / 21 July 2013 In yet another residential Sharjah blaze, a fire has partially gutted a 30-storey building leaving about 30 residents homeless and damaging nearby cars. The fire, which tore through the whole block in Al Hudah Tower started around 8.45am and took firefighters about an hour to get it under control, Sharjah Civil Defence Director-General Brigadier Abdullah Saeed Al Suwaidi said. “Firefighters arrived at the scene in less than five minutes and went about evacuating the residents through the building…(before) efforts were made to put out the blaze and control it from spreading to other blocks.” The fire started on the third floor and spread up to the 30th floor, leaving a long trail of damage up one side of the building. Five cars parked outside were also partly burnt by the flying debris caused by the blaze. Thankfully there were no fatalities or injuries reported, Al Suwaidi said. The blaze is the first big residential fire to be reported in the emirate this summer, with the emirate notorious for big residential fires such as those that gutted Al Baker Tower, which displaced 125 families last January. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International