Over the weekend, a fire broke out on the 50th floor of the 86 story Torch Tower building in Dubai which took 12 fire engines and several hours to contain. Thankfully, no lives were lost.

Events like this are a reminder of the importance of consulting with the MFB during the design phase of large buildings due to the challenges that these buildings pose to fire crews.

“Any fire outbreak should be able to burn itself out without external intervention and without the building collapsing, allowing for the evacuation of occupants above and below the fire”

The length of fire hoses are 30 meters with an approx hose spray of 10m, which is too short for large buildings. Therefore, a number of active and passive defences, such as automatic fire doors and fire barriers are provided within large buildings, to ensure the safe evacuation of occupants.

Read about the fire at the Torch Tower building in Dubai here