New Years Eve in Dubai

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Dubai must be a great place to spend New Years Eve, but it probably is very, very expensive.

Burj Al Arab fireworks


ALREADY known for its breath-taking firework displays, Dubai is set to raise the bar this New Year with a stunning 24 minute showpiece that will seamlessly flow from the iconic Burj Khalifa Downtown at midnight on a 23km journey along the city’s coastline to culminate in an awe-inspiring finale at The Beach by Meraas, opposite Jumeriah Beach Residence (JBR).

Six months in the planning and having taken two months to set up, the combined multimedia and fireworks extravaganza will see close to 9 tons of fireworks fired from over 685 positions by more than 100 specialist technicians as it continuously weaves its way from Downtown through the Business Bay Canal, along the Jumeirah coastline leading to the signature Burj Al Arab before climaxing in a six minute and 20 second crescendo at The Beach.

The domino effect show means Dubai residents and visitors will be able to watch the show from multiple vantage points on the night, helping in reducing traffic flows around Downtown and opening up the spectacle to people across the city. Specialist screens will also broadcast the event live at Kite Beach, Al Sufouh Beach and JBR.

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Dubai to welcome New Year with awesome firework display - Saudi Gazette?

 

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Huge skyscraper confligration while New Years fireworks display goes on...

Blaze hits Dubai skyscraper, New Year's fireworks proceed nearby
Thu, Dec 31 2015 Fire engulfed a 63-storey skyscraper in Dubai on Thursday night, but with the block evacuated and only minor injuries reported authorities went ahead with a New Year's fireworks display at the world's tallest building a few hundred meters away.

Tongues of flame shot skywards from one side of the luxury Address Downtown Dubai hotel and residential block, which stands across a plaza from the 160-storey Burj Khalifa tower where people had gathered for fireworks to mark the New Year. Television pictures showed pieces of blazing debris raining down from The Address as evacuated occupants hurried away from the building, some running. "We came out on my balcony to look at the Burj. All the buildings around here had fireworks prepped on the roof," Paul Mithun, a U.S. consultant in downtown Dubai said.

A fire engulfs The Address Hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates​

"We were like, huh, that looks like a little Olympic torch off in the distance. We thought someone lit fireworks. In under two minutes, the fire went up two-thirds of the length of the hotel. I watched the whole thing. It was real bad." But as midnight struck, with the Address building continuing to burn, onlookers cheered as a swirling mass of multicoloured fireworks enveloped the Burj Khalifa. The Dubai government's media office said the Address blaze was 90 percent under control. Police chief Major General Khamis Matar told Al Arabiya television: "All residents of the hotel were evacuated and there are 14 injured, with light injuries.”

People run away as a fire engulfs The Address Hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates​

A medic on the scene who declined to be identified told Reuters: "There are more than 60 people injured with light injuries from smoke inhalation and from crowding while in the stairs evacuating the building." One resident staying on the 15th floor of the tower, completed in 2008, told Britain's Sky News of "absolute pandemonium" as those inside realized the building was ablaze. "The alarms went off when the building was already properly on fire," he said.

FIREWORKS GO AHEAD

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Fire engulfs Dubai tower near NYE fireworks; Officials say injuries minor, party unaffected
Dec. 31, 2015 - "I saw the flames just as it started, and now it is out of hand," witness Ahmad Al Bader, positioned in the nearby Burj Khalifa tower, said.

A blaze erupted Thursday at a five-star hotel tower in Dubai, near where a major fireworks display was set to go off at midnight -- lighting up the night sky as flames licked nearly the entire height of the skyscraper. The fire started about 10 p.m. local time in a 63-story mixed hotel-residential tower called the Address, Downtown Dubai -- which is across a small lake from Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Government officials said the blaze started on the 20th floor, on the outside of the tower.

Video and images from the scene showed flames running up nearly the entire length of the tower and burning debris falling from the skyscraper. Dubai's official media office cited 14 minor injuries, one moderate injury and a heart attack "due [to] over-crowding and smoke at the fire site," but officials indicated there were no serious injuries. "There are no injuries, thank God ... of course, it will not affect the celebration," Major General Rashed al-Matrushi, general director of the Dubai Civil Defence, told a live newscast, Britain's Telegraph reported. The fireworks display went off at midnight, as scheduled. "A fire has been reported in the Address Downtown hotel. Authorities are currently on-site to address the incident swiftly and safely," the Dubai Media Office tweeted earlier, adding that at least four firefighting brigades responded to the blaze.

The tower, which houses 200 hotel rooms and 600 residential units, was immediately evacuated, as was the adjoining Dubai Waterfront. "I saw the flames just as it started, and now it is out of hand," witness Ahmad Al Bader, who was at the Burj Khalifa, told UAE's The National. "I can't see anything because of the smoke ... It looks like it's completely gone." "It's gone from just a small fire at the foot of the building and now it's shooting up the middle and the top," another witness, Mohammed Al Sarraf, said. "It's raging."

Government officials promised the New Year's Eve celebrations would go forward, which included three massive fireworks displays -- one at the Burj Khalifa. The entire display reportedly involved 1.6 tons of pyrotechnics. Thursday's blaze is similar to another fire that broke out at another residential tower in February in Dubai's Marina District. That tower was evacuated, and no one was seriously injured.

Fire engulfs Dubai tower near NYE fireworks; Officials say injuries minor, party unaffected

 

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Miracle escape from towering inferno...

Man escapes UAE fire by hanging off balcony
Sat, Jan 02, 2016 - Grasping the edge of a balcony 48 stories from the ground, just meters away from a raging fire, the photographer thought he might not live to see this year. “One hour, then that’s it, I’m dead,” he thought as he stood on the tiny sill of a balcony in Dubai’s luxury The Address Downtown hotel, attached by a rope to a massive window-cleaning platform.

Not long before, he had entered the balcony with a friend to take photographs of the nearby New Year’s Eve fireworks display for his newspaper, but the night suddenly changed when a huge fire erupted in the hotel below, engulfing several floors of the huge building in the heart of the skyscraper city. “There’s a fire,” his friend shouted, rushing toward the nearest exit, before the photographer looked out and saw “smoke coming toward the balcony.” Afraid that he would die from suffocation, and unable to see how he could escape, the photographer decided there was only one thing for it — to tie a rope from himself to a window-cleaning platform and hang off the balcony.

He rolled out 30m of a heavy-duty cable from a nearby machine used by workers to clean the tower’s windows, attached it to his belt and photographic equipment, and stepped off the edge. The rope “was my savior”, he said, asking not to be named and explaining that the fire was less than 10m away from him at that point. He feared he would die from suffocation, he said. “I wasn’t sure what was happening downstairs. I was afraid I might collapse from the smoke,” he said. Holding on for dear life outside the building, he began calling and texting his colleagues asking them to get in touch with civil defense officials for help.

Flames and smoke billow from the building after a fire broke out at The Address Downtown hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates​

Civil defense representatives kept him calm as he waited to be rescued. “I was telling them I hoped to survive and see my wife,” he said. More than half an hour later, he heard rescue workers approaching his floor. “When I saw lights and heard the sounds of footsteps at the floor I was in, I started tapping on the aluminum to get their attention,” he said. “I think I was the only person left stuck that long,” he said, describing how he was led out through the smoke-filled corridors of the five-star hotel. Dubai’s police chief said that all the residents had been evacuated due to the blaze, the cause of which was unknown.

Not far away, Dubai’s fireworks display erupted as usual to welcome in the New Year, starting from the Burj Khalifa — the world’s tallest building — before spreading across the skies above the city. For the photographer, the start of the year was something he would never forget. “I’m excited because it’s New Year, and [filled with] an adrenaline rush,” he said, his voice still shaky.

Man escapes UAE fire by hanging off balcony - Taipei Times

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Authorities Trying to Determine Cause of Dubai Hotel Fire
January 01, 2016 - Authorities are trying to determine what caused an inferno at a high-rise luxury hotel in downtown Dubai that burned during the city's New Year's Eve fireworks extravaganza.

The fire at The Address Hotel provided dramatic scenes as hundreds of thousands of people watching the fireworks display looked on. The hotel is located near the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The Address Hotel was evacuated during the blaze, but 14 people suffered minor injuries, and one person experienced a heart attack. On Friday, heavy, white smoke continued to billow from the 63-story hotel, one of the most upscale hotels and residences in Dubai.

Flames whip through the Address Downtown Dubai hotel in the United Arab Emirates​

VOA's Margaret Besheer, who is spending the holiday in Dubai, said many fire trucks and water tanks were still in front of the hotel Friday. She said she saw only smoke coming out of the building as of 5 p.m. local time, but two hours later saw a fire burning on one balcony at the hotel.

A 'miracle'

Besheer said it is a "miracle" no one died in the inferno. "Authorities here are saying that internal parts of the hotel were not gutted by the fire," she said. "I think it had a very advanced sprinkler system that kept the fire from spreading internally. But the facade is really badly damaged on the north side of the building. I was looking at the building today, and there’s still smoke billowing off the building and there’s a smell in the air like a lighter fluid."

Besheer also said it was a "bit surreal" watching a fireworks show on one side of the street and a raging inferno on the other. "From a safety point of view, I was a bit surprised that they’d go ahead with [the fireworks]," she said. "But it’s been in the planning here for six months. They had a French company do the pyrotechnics, an American company was also involved. It was a very intensive effort, and I guess they didn’t want to disappoint the crowds, and they decided it would be safe to go ahead and do it. It was a beautiful show. We did end up seeing it from the street. We were evacuated from the restaurant where we had gone. But the crowd seemed delighted that they went ahead. There were thousands of people on the street. People didn’t go running in a panic. People stayed."

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