Fire hits $1.5bn hotel on Dubai Palm
3 September, 2008

Welders are thought to have started the fire in the dome of the Atlantis hotel which is due to open this month

A fire which broke out yesterday in the lobby of the almost-completed Atlantis hotel at the centre of the Palm Jumeirah Development, will not delay its grand opening at the end of the month, a hotel spokesperson said last night.

The fire, which broke out at around 7am left smoke billowing from the central dome of the US $1.5bn hotel at the top of the five-star Palm development. Palm residents said they were woken by the sirens of police and emergency vehicles rushing to the hotel. Witnesses said there was so much smoke that the hotel looked as if the entire building was in flames.

An initial police investigation said welders might have accidentally sparked the blaze.

Brig Abdul Jalil Mahdi, deputy director of Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation Department for Preventative Security said: “We are investigating the matter and will know more later, but it was only a small fire.”

Kerzner International, which manages the 1,539-room hotel said the site was evacuated and no one was injured.

The fire has raised questions over how well equipped the authorities are to fight another major fire on the man-made island, which is home to thousands of people but does not have its own fire station. Civil Defence firemen who responded to yesterday’s blaze had to drive from several locations on the mainland.

Dubai Civil Defence said its preparations for emergency responses on island developments including the Palm Jumeirah were still in the “study and development phase”.

Fire at Marriott Residence Inn caused by candle

Fire crews, under the command of Battalion Chief Jeff Carman, responded quickly checking for potential fire extension. They worked diligently to minimize further water damage caused by the sprinkler system. A total of four engines, one aerial ladder truck and one battalion chief responded to the initial alarm.

“This fire had much potential due to the nature of the occupancy”, stated Fire Chief Ken Wagner. “The fire sprinkler system had a significant and positive impact of the overall extent of fire damage. There was little to no fire damage and the occupants evacuated safely”, Wagner continued.

An important lesson learned today is that extra caution must be exercised when using candles. Never leave a candle unattended. What appears to be an innocent action can lead to devastating results. Today we were lucky.

Eight Dead, 16 Injured In North China Hotel Fire
November 23, 2008
Eight people were confirmed dead and another 16 were injured when a hotel in Luliang City of north China's Shanxi Province caught fire early Saturday [22 November], the local government said. Rescuers found seven dead bodies at the site after the fire was put out. Altogether 17 people were hospitalized with injuries, one of whom failed to respond to emergency treatment and died in hospital, a spokesman with Luliang city government told Xinhua.
He said the other 16 people were out of danger.
Fire broke out at Jintian Hotel in Lishi District, the only urban district of Luliang, at 0600 [2200 gmt on 21 November] and "all its seven floors were ablaze", the spokesman said without elaborating. The blaze was put out at around 0930 [local time] and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The identities of the dead are not immediately known.
Some of the hotel rooms were leased to businesses, including a local television and some advertisement companies and travel services, the spokesman said, quoting one of the rescuers at the fire site.

Hotel fire kills three
19.FEB.09
Just two months after a fire ravaged Arcadia’s 110-year-old Hotel & Tap building, another fire ripped through the Hotel & Tap in Independence.

This time, it isn’t just the loss of an historic structure and personal belongings that people will mourn: as of Monday, at least three victims were found amidst the rubble of the building that caught fire early Sunday morning.

Victims names were not released as of Tuesday.

The fire began just before 6 a.m. on Sunday, February 15.

Keith Edison, owner of Edison Funeral Home in Independence, was one of the first ones to see the fire.

“When I arrived, I was at the front of the hotel and I could see fire on the bottom floor,” he said. “It wasn’t long at all and it was just a big poof and the entire building went up.”

Edison said more people showed up as the fire surged throughout the morning and much of the afternoon.

“Everyone was just awestruck by what was going on,” he said. “The number one thing everybody hoped was that nobody was in it.”

Unfortunately, like Arcadia’s old hotel, the Independence Hotel & Tap was most recently being used for apartment housing, meaning tenants were occupying the complex at the time of the fire.

Several of these tenants were able to escape the blaze. Four safely exited the building using the second story fire escape, while two others exited out a second story window and stood on a nearby roof until they could be rescued by fire department personnel, said Derrick Vold, Independence Police Chief.

It is unclear how many tenants were living in the apartments or how many people were in the building at the time of the fire, but

according to Vold, all of the tenants of the building have been accounted for and the search for victims has ceased.

According to witness statements from the Winona Daily News, the majority of the residents were Hispanic immigrants, several of whom took refuge in the nearby Iglesia Hispana pentecostes church

Vold said Tuesday that the cause of the fire is still unknown but at this time there is no reason to believe it was caused by foul play.

The Wisconsin State Fire Marshall’s Office was on scene Tuesday to assist the investigation.