A fire broke out early Monday at 8 Boulevard Walk, a 35-story high-rise near Burj Khalifa, in downtown Dubai. Luckily, no casualties were reported.

A resident of the development who wished to remain anonymous told The Associated Press that plans were on to replace the cladding of the building after a similar blaze broke out at a luxury hotel in 2015 on New Year's Eve. The reason for the fire at Address Downtown hotel was found to be exposed wiring. Following the incident at Address Downtown, plans were made to change the cladding of all the high-rise structures. However, the plans were never put into motion at Boulevard Walk.

Emaar Properties, the real estate firm that developed the 35-story building, did not respond to questions on cladding. However, a spokesperson of the group said: "We can confirm that a fire broke out at 8 Boulevard Walk early morning today. The situation was contained with the support of the government authorities concerned, and no casualties were reported. Emaar adheres to strict protocols and regulations. We take the health and safety of our residents very seriously and are working with the authorities concerned to investigate the incident. Emaar is also working with residents impacted by the incident to ensure they are being taken care of."

The AP report said that the blaze started at around 2:30 a.m. and firefighters arrived five minutes after the operations room was alerted. According to the Dubai Civil Defense, personnel "arrived at the scene five minutes after the operations room was alerted of the fire at 3:11 a.m."

"A Dubai Civil Defense spokesperson confirmed that Dubai high-rises comply with strict structural and fire safety standards that conform to international codes and regulations," said a later statement from the office.

Civil Defence data accessed by the Gulf News shows that the incidents of fires in Dubai high-rises are down 5.48% this year, from 73 in 2021 to 69 in 2022. Following the 2015 fire, Dubai now has strict regulations in place for new construction cladding. In 2017, a civil defense official publicly announced that buildings with flammable cladding on their buildings would need to be replaced. However, how much of this code has been enforced is still unclear.

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