# Hope your New Year was better than ours!



## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

Well that was a new year I will never forget!


I am currently working and living in Dubai on rotation. We started a lovely evening with drinks on the balcony of the Wolfgang Puks' restaurant Cut which has one of the best locations to view the firework display. The balcony only has 8 tables and there was about 7 tables occupied. We had just started dinner and were all chatting. I noticed smoke coming from somewhere above us to the left. I joked that I hoped it was not my steak burning.
Below us was a lovely area with outdoor seating and was in the process of filling up but not a lot of people there.
One member of staff started waving frantically up to the building above her waving as if indicating to someone not to do something. My initial thought was we had a "jumper" and someone was about to throw themselves off the building when suddenly a burning piece of something fell from above us. It then computed in my mind that someone had set the cushion of the sunbed on ther balcony on fire and had thrown it down, hence the staff member gesticulating not too.
Suddenly, a large piece of burning plastic about 5 feet x 3 feet hit the balcony where we were sitting, it bounced off and landed on the palm tree below. I knew this was serious and immediately told the company and others on the balcony we need to get out. I opened the doors which led inside to the main restaurant where around 20 tables were full of people eating. On the way screaming at the Oriental group who were sitting behind us, who now had phones out and filming to get the hell inside and get out!
As I entered the restaurant I immediately shouted FIRE we need to all get out now please move towards the door. People looked at me like an idiot, I kept shouting and headed to the manual call point on the wall. I broke the glass...nothing. At this point people started to see debris falling past the window and realised what I was saying. There was no panic and people started to exit.
On the way down I activated every fire alarm break glass I could see and no alarm sounded. I live in this place and was very conscious that people in the apartments above may yet not be aware of the situation.
On leaving the hotel main door I bumped into a Manager and again explained that this was VERY serious and he need to manually activate all his fire alarm and fire fighting systems.
We got onto the street and that is when the real problems started. It was chaos due to shear volume of people. Then my fears came true, some idiot shouted "BOMB" and all hell broke loose. I pulled my partner behind a crash barrier and watched a sea of people push, pull kick, scream, stand on others, it was hell.
Within 20 minutes of the first piece of debris fall the hotel was a fire ball, a real eye opener to how fast it spread.
The media reporting has been really censored, We were watching explosion after explosion and Sky News were reporting the situation was 90% under control. I have no idea what that means, but I can assure you it was anything short of under control.
They also reported no injuries, my goodness, how they can tell that 2 hours after the fire start I have no idea, although they are saying now some minor injuries.
We all stood in pure shock and disbelief that the fireworks went ahead. The building 100 ft away is in flames with potential fatalities but the show and fake front to Dubai must go on...completely unbelievable. My worst fear is we will never learn the true cost of the Indian, Pakistani, Pilipino people who may have died, they are too insignificant to report in the eyes of this country.


Just count our blessings that we got out and have good friends who we will stay with until we can get passport sorted out and get new accommodation arranged. We were due to return to UK on Monday, but without passports I'm not sure that will happen.


Happy New Year!


----------



## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

Looked very serious on the BBC coverage, glad you are safe and OK.

Peter


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Bad luck getting caught in that Stewart, it was covered on the Today programme this morning, people remarked on how slowly any action was taken to fight the fire or evacuate the building and adjacent areas. Glad you're OK.


----------



## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

Here are some images taken of the area below the balcony where the initial debris fell, followed by the building +20 mins then +40mins


----------



## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

It all started so well :grin2:


----------



## tugboat (Sep 14, 2013)

Glad you're safe. Shaken but not stirred.

Like others, I saw the footage on the TV. They're saying it started on the 20th floor, but who knows. I hate skyscrapers from a fire and safety standpoint, always have, always will. I wonder how much damage was done in the end, and I hope no lives were lost.


----------



## peedee (May 10, 2005)

A lucky escape Stewart and as sure as hell, a New Years celebration you are not likely to forget. Hope you get sorted and have a safe trip home
peedee


----------



## siggie (Oct 2, 2010)

I too used to live and work in the UAE and that building was one of my favourites in Dubai - the beautiful blue and white lighting.

All too often do tower blocks there catch fire but it is the incredible speed at which the fire spreads through them that shocked, and worried, me! The exterior cladding is very often not fire proof, the evacuation procedures in the event of a fire are often poor (our building over-pressured the fire escape stairwell so much that many smaller ladies and children could not push the fire exit doors open to get onto the stairs) and the alarm systems rarely work properly (my apartment block had smoke detectors located above the sink of an open plan kitchen - any frying or straining vegetables would set off the alarm in the whole building. Needless to say this happened several times every day and night and so most residents simply ignored the alarm! The managements solution? Turn the volume of the alarm down so that it didn't disturb the residents - after which in many apartments you could not hear the alarm at all!!!) I can tell you I was glad to get out of there!

I hear what you say about workers from Asia and Africa, they are treated like total scum by most locals and, even sadder, by many expats too! Without them the country would simply grind to a halt in a matter of days!

I hope you get everything sorted soon Stewart, take care.


----------



## Dill (Jun 3, 2010)

It's really good to here your both ok mate, like others we watched all the news on tv. Hope you both get sorted soon.

Keith


----------



## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Stewart

Glad you are OK. Sounds horrific.

From remarks about passport I assume you were also staying in the Address Downton as well as dining there - you just gave the name of the restaurant.

As far as flying back on Monday, it used to be the case that UK Immigration would permit a person without a passport to re-enter the UK as long as they could convince the Immigration Officer that they were British. It might be worth a call to Border Control to establish whether this is still the case. If so, it might still be a problem with the airport and airline but maybe Border Control could provide an e-mail or fax for you to present.

My suggestion is a bit of a long-shot but maybe worth a try.

Good luck with trying to sort it all out.

I hope the rest of the New Year is kinder to you - can't be worse can it?

Geoff


----------



## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

Stewart, so pleased to hear you and your partner are fine. What a horrible experience!

I used to live on the 20th floor of a 21 story building. I woke up in the early hours to hear noise at the front of the building. It was a fire engine - the rubbish shute had caught fire. I guess someone threw a stompie and it lit the big pile of garbage at the bottom. The shute was next to the lifts just across a narrow passage from my kitchen window. Only one exit, other than the quick way down. Luckily it was sorted pretty quickly, no harm to anyone.

Fire alarms??? Smoke detectors??? None!


----------



## DBSS (Jun 30, 2013)

Stewart so glad to hear you are safe & well.


Being a retired Gulf Expat myself I can understand all the issues you were confronted with and still to go through to get home. One concern you must have was the total lack of operational fire alarms in the building and we both well know the Dubai Authorities will never let those issues get into the press.


All the best for 2016


Ian


----------



## Jamsieboy (Jan 14, 2011)

Stewart
Thanks for sharing your terrible experience with us.
Glad to hear you and your partner escaped safe and sound albeit no doubt shaken a good bit.
On TV the reports from almost the moment of starting indicated there were no injuries (later changed to a few minor injuries only). It seems near impossible for that to be the case given the nature of the building and spread of the fire.
Guess we will never know what caused the fire nor indeed the actual loss of life and injury tally.
All the best for a return home and a very safe and happy 2016.
Cheers
Jamsie


----------



## buxom (Mar 20, 2008)

Glad to hear you are ok


----------



## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

nicholsong said:


> Stewart
> 
> Glad you are OK. Sounds horrific.
> 
> ...


Thanks to everyone for there concern.

Geoff, we have an apartment on the 64th floor of The Address. Initial reports indicate that fire did not actually enter the apartments at that level, but obviously a lot of smoke damage. Anything important is in the safe which if fireproof, but we are not to concerned. UK Embassy have been fantastic and an emergency letter of authorisation to enter the UK has been issued to us. We are lucky in that we had copies of both passports stored on iCloud like all good motorhomers do :wink2: so it has been fairly simple.
We have been given a hotel room at one of the other hotels in the chain, so they are looking after us.
A number of us who are residents got together as we were being allocated rooms at the hotel and insisted the fire alarm was tested before we moved in.

Home Monday to go on holiday Tuesday, wish it was in the motorhome, things are so much simpler.


----------



## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

stewartwebr said:


> Thanks to everyone for there concern.
> 
> Geoff, we have an apartment on the 64th floor of The Address. Initial reports indicate that fire did not actually enter the apartments at that level, but obviously a lot of smoke damage. Anything important is in the safe which if fireproof, but we are not to concerned. UK Embassy have been fantastic and an emergency letter of authorisation to enter the UK has been issued to us. We are lucky in that we had copies of both passports stored on iCloud like all good motorhomers do :wink2: so it has been fairly simple.
> We have been given a hotel room at one of the other hotels in the chain, so they are looking after us.
> ...


Too long has lapsed to edit the post, I should have typed 54th floor, not 64th


----------



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

How awful for you to go through that. Glad to hear you are recovering.


I am totally shocked that the news is censored like that! Perhaps I am naïve but I totally believe what I see on new channels etc. I must say I was incredulous that anyone was not injured when I saw the way it took hold. Those poor people


----------



## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

stewartwebr said:


> Thanks to everyone for there concern.
> 
> Geoff, we have an apartment on the 64th floor of The Address. Initial reports indicate that fire did not actually enter the apartments at that level, but obviously a lot of smoke damage. Anything important is in the safe which if fireproof, but we are not to concerned. UK Embassy have been fantastic and an emergency letter of authorisation to enter the UK has been issued to us. We are lucky in that we had copies of both passports stored on iCloud like all good motorhomers do :wink2: so it has been fairly simple.
> We have been given a hotel room at one of the other hotels in the chain, so they are looking after us.
> ...


Stewart

I am pleased that you have got sorted out. The Embassy obvously moved quickly - maybe there were not too many brits involved.

Have a good trip back.

Geoff


----------

