The cigarette butt or shisha coals were thrown from a higher floor Over 300 flats were damaged in the fire DUBAI: The recent fire in Sharjah’s Abbco tower was almost certainly caused by a discarded cigarette or hookah coals, a high-ranking police official said. “The fire was caused 90 percent either by a cigarette butt or Shisha coals, which had been discarded in the corridor of the first floor,” Acting Director General of Police Operations and head of forensic laboratory Brigadier Ahmed Haji Al-Sarkal said. “It was thrown from upper floors and settled on the 10th floor (the first residential floor after nine levels of parking), where the fire started,” he added. Several people suffered minor injuries in the accident and more than 250 families were evacuated and placed in hotels. The fire in the 48-floor building damaged 333 apartments of which 233 are still closed and will be opened in the presence of owners, Al-Serkal said. Police have inspected 100 apartments so far, 26 of which were fully destroyed, 34 affected by water and smoke and 40 have damaged doors, he added. Falling debris during the fire damaged 16 vehicles around the building. Another 17 vehicles, which were in the building’s car parking, were also damaged. The Abbco Tower was fitted with cladding banned in 2016 for buildings over 23 meters in Sharjah, and 150 buildings in the emirate will now have to replace theirs, Director General of Sharjah Civil Defence Colonel Sami Khamis Al-Naqbi said. Cladding in construction is the external layer of a building, which provides thermal isolation and is used as the aesthetic aspect. “Sharjah Civil Defence is now considering a programme to get buildings to replace old cladding and even help building owners conduct replacements and find alternative materials at a reduced cost,” Al-Naqbi said.