Fire Breaks out Near Dubai’s New Year’s Fireworks Display

“Within 10 seconds it went from, “Wow, that’s a fire” to ‘We can not be where we are and we need to be moving away from that, ‘ ” he said.

Dubai officials said reports suggest the blaze started outside the 20th floor of the building, but they maintain the fire has not spread inside the structure. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene, as pictures emerged on social media showing the structure engulfed in flames. In under two minutes, the fire went up two-thirds of the length of the hotel.

Another witness, Lynn Van Jarsfeld, who was also in the building, said: “I don’t know how everyone would have got out – it just took so quickly”.

14 people with minor injuries were treated on site, one person died of heart attack.

Irish people living in Dubai have been describing the moment a huge fire engulfed a high-rise hotel ahead of a New Year’s Eve firework display.

At least 20 stories of the hotel were covered on fire as burning debris was raining down on the ground.

The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing will provide guests evacuated from Downtown Address hotel with alternative accommodation, it said.

A spectacular fireworks display kicked off as planned at midnight (2000 GMT), beginning at the 828 metre (2,700 foot) high Burj Khalifa before spreading across the skies of the cash-flush city above thousands of cheering spectators.

Flames and smoke after a fire broke out at The Address Hotel in Dubai, UAE. “We were impressed with how easy we got out of there”.

Bruce Szczepanski, who watched from the balcony of a nearby hotel, said he could still hear parts of the building crashing to the ground almost eight hours after the blaze began. It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured in the blaze. The hotel, which includes luxury residences, is located near the skyscraper, the centerpiece for an extravagant fireworks display created to ring in the new year.

“The flames were running up one side of the building, reaching about halfway up…”

It is understood that Dubai Mall, next to the hotel, was evacuated.

“From @BurjKhalifa to the world: Happy New Year 2016”, said the Dubai government media office on Twitter.