Ajman high-rise fire brought under control

No injuries reported as footage showed flames spreading through one of the residential towers

Firefighters tackled a large blaze in a high-rise residential building in Ajman in the early hours of Tuesday.

Footage showed flames spreading through a 36-storey tower in the Ajman One complex.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by شرطة عجمان (@ajmanpoliceghq)

The fire broke out in Tower Two of the twelve tower complex at around 1.30am.

Ajman Civil Defence and police teams were able to bring the blaze under control, said officials.

Ajman Police said there were no injuries in the fire and that affected residents have been moved to hotels in Ajman and Sharjah.

Lt Col Gaith Al Kaabi, director of Al Madinah Police Station, said 64 apartments and 10 cars were damaged in the blaze, while shelter was being provided for 256 residents in conjunction with Emirates Red Crescent. 

Authorities are working to restore the electricity in the building to allow residents to return to apartments which were not affected by the fire.

Brig Abdullah Al Matrooshi, director general of police operations at Ajman Police, said a mobile police station was brought to the scene of the blaze, which helped secure the site and assist residents.

Police provided seven buses, in co-ordination with the Red Crescent, to transport residents to nearby accommodation.

The fire was brought under control by emergency services.

Tuesday’s fire is not the first at Ajman One towers.

In 2016, a massive blaze started in the 26-storey Tower Eight before spreading to Tower Six.

Three other towers in the 3,646-apartment development close to the Corniche suffered minor damage.

Recent Ministry of Interior figures revealed a significant increase in the number of building fires reported in the UAE.

Civil defence teams responded to more than 3,000 incidents in 2022, including 2,169 building fires – up 3 per cent from 2,090 in 2021 and 10 per cent higher than the 1,968 recorded in 2020.

The majority of fires took place in residential areas, with homes and apartments accounting for 1,385 of the incidents, the ministry said.

Emergency services responded to 396 incidents in Ajman last year.

Updated: June 27, 2023, 2:38 PM