DUBAI // A fire broke out at a construction site in Dubai’s Jumeirah Village Circle on Saturday afternoon.
No one was injured in the blaze, which started at about 2pm and was under control by about 6pm, said the Dubai Media Office.
Duncan Chappell, a resident of JVC who lives about 300 metres from the site, said he saw smoke pouring from the building. He said embers dropped into gardens as firefighters battled the flames.
He found the number of fires in the city – last month a blaze raged through floors of Al Sulafa Tower in Dubai Marina leaving many homeless – a concern. “It does worry me a little bit. Friends of ours lost everything a couple of weeks ago in Sulafa Tower after that fire. The frequency of fires is shocking but not surprising.
“There were embers everywhere. People are keeping an eye on their balconies and roofs now. The construction site people next door to us were frantically throwing buckets of water over everything as a precaution.
“The sky is black with the smoke from the fire. It’s scary to see how quickly it gets like that.”
JVC resident Nuriyah Khan, who lives opposite the building, said: “I see that building from my balcony every day.
“At the moment I don’t see any orange flames any more but the amount of smoke that is coming out from the building is crazy. From the top, the middle and towards the bottom there are three separate channels of thick smoke spreading into the air. Debris has fallen off all around the building.”
Faisal Azhar, who owns a villa in JVC, said by 2.30pm the fire had spread to floors below.
“Also, several secondary fires started including on the top of its multi-storey car park roof,” he said.
mswan@thenational.ae
