Exact cause of Ajman One fire cannot be found, report says

Lab report found that flammable material fell on construction waste, but evidence could not provide conclusive explanation.

Fire and smoke billow from Ajman One at the end of March. The authorities say they are unable to identify the cause with certainty but officials’ suspicions remain. Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo

AJMAN // The exact cause of the fire that engulfed two Ajman One towers last month could not be determined by investigators, pouring cold water on reports that shisha was to blame.

An Ajman Police criminal laboratory report found that flaming material fell from a flat and landed on construction waste, starting the fire, but it could not be said with certainty what that material was.

Brig Sheikh Sultan bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Commander-in-Chief of Ajman Police, said: “The report says that above the fourth floor there is an open yard that has a swimming pool and sitting areas. At the corner of Tower Eight, there was construction waste, cardboard boxes and ceramic, which are flammable, and the fire started there, where the waste was close to the flammable cladding.” The chief said that it was impossible to determine what the flaming material that caused the fire was.

Since the fire, Ajman’s security command committee, which consists of the police, civil defence, municipality and port, agreed that flammable cladding will no longer be used on new towers in the emirate, said Brig Al Nuaimi.

“We asked the municipality to stop for a period of time the new construction licences that were supposed to use cladding until we find the best qualities [of materials] that resist fires or alternatives because this cladding has a dangerous petroleum substance that is highly flammable.”

For residential towers that have flammable cladding on their facades, the committee will decide on what to do as removing it would be costly for owners and, ultimately, it is a decision that will require action by the Government.

“We will discuss this issue with the civil defence to see if there are other safety methods, such as installing sprinklers on the top [of towers] to spray water directly on the cladding or we ask owners to keep five floors covered with cladding and remove it from one,” Brig Al Nuaimi said.

Col Nasser Al Zari, head of media and public relations at Ajman Civil Defence, said that 25 per cent of fires in the emirate were caused by smoking shisha or cigarettes at home.

“For house safety, we always advise and ask tenants to install smoke sensors and alarms and avoid smoking in bedrooms and places where children are, because 25 per cent of fires engulf due to smoking,” he said.

Col Al Zari added that having barbecues on balconies of residential towers was banned, partly because they annoy other householders but also because coal may fall down and cause a fire.