5 May 2020
A high-rise tower caught fire late Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates in a city-state neighboring Dubai, a blaze that saw flames rapidly shoot up the sides of the building like other recent incidents that involved flammable cladding. The blaze at the 48-story Abbco Tower in Sharjah saw flaming debris shower neighboring dusty parking lots and left metal siding littering surrounding streets. The UAE, including skyscraper-studded Dubai, has suffered a spate of fires in its high-rises in recent years. The reason for the blazes, building and safety experts say, is the material used for the buildings’ sidings, called aluminum composite panel cladding.