Fire in ground floor of 32-storey Marina Tower

The cause of the fire that broke out in a burger restaurant of the Marina Tower building is under investigation, a civil defence official said.

A fire at a ground floor restaurant Burger 360 forced Marina Tower in Dubai to evacuate its tenants. Seen here, walking by while cleaning the restaurant is Avelino, an employee at the resurant. Lee Hoagland/The NationalShow less

DUBAI // Tenants in the 32-storey floor Marina Tower were forced to flee their homes on Thursday morning after a fire broke out in a restaurant on the ground floor.

More than 60 residents left the tower but were allowed to return after an hour. Some said the building’s fire alarms did not go off and they only evacuated when they saw fire crews arrive.

The building has about 150 out of 197 apartments occupied and residents were worried that most of the people living there were unaware of the fire.

The cause of the fire that started at 6.50am in the Burger 360 restaurant has not yet been ascertained, a civil defence official said.

“No one was injured, it was a small fire and it was brought under control,” said Mahmoud Hamed, Dubai Civil Defence spokesman.

“It is a cause of concern that the fire alarms on the individual floors did not go off,” said a mother, who was feeding her infant son when her husband saw the fire engines parked below.

“We left the building and other people started to trickle out at 7.15am. There was smoke coming out of the restaurant on the ground floor. We couldn’t see any flames but only smoke.”

Mark, another resident, said alarms had gone off on the ground floor where the fire started.

“Many people were not aware of the fire. I saw people gathered outside when I returned from my morning run and I called my wife to tell her to leave the building.”

The building management said it would look into complaints about the fire alarm systems. “We are checking the cause and will check about the fire alarm system.”

The restaurant expected to be open for business later on Thursday. “We are completing the cleaning and will be open for business,” said Ali Sultan Rakkad Al Amri, the owner of Burger 360, who also lives in the building.

“It was a small fire and a lot of smoke in the food preparation area of the restaurant. It could be an electricity issue and we will find out what caused it.”

Dubai Marina is home to more than 100 residential towers. In June last year hundreds of tenants evacuated the 76-storey Al Sulafa Tower in Dubai Marina after a fire broke out in the early hours of the morning. Residents of more than 700 flats were woken at about 5.45am by alarms set off by a fire in a flat on the 36th floor. No one was hurt.

In September 2012, quick-thinking building staff helped to contain a fire on the balcony of a fourth-floor apartment at DEC Tower before civil defence crews arrived at the scene. The alarm was sounded after a cleaner noticed smoke coming from the apartment. The resident of the apartment arrived after the fire was put out.

Tamweel Tower in nearby Jumeirah Lakes Towers was badly damaged after a fire on November 18, 2012 and rebuilding work has yet to start. Owners of flats in the 34-storey building have been forced to rent elsewhere while negotiations continue on the nature and scope of repair work.

Dubai Civil Defence opened the Al Marsa station to cover “new Dubai”, including the densely populated Marina, Media City, Tecom, Palm Jumeirah, JBR and JLT developments.