the inferno in dubai where the new year's fireworks show will go on. you can hear the cheers as they await the moment when the fireworks display begins. the fire he hotel, ally luxury hotel and apartment complex, called the address. roughly 100 feet tall 53 stories, 626 apartments, more than 196 different hotel rooms. we do not know what caused this fire. officials are not saying, but they are saying that nobody has been injured except for 14 minor injuries and one heart attack that happened during the evacuation, not the fire itself. the flames have torched most of the exterior of the building, one witness said. she described it as totaled but

said now all she sees are not flames but just smoke, and burning debris has certainly been raining down on the outside of that building, and at times on top of the firefighters who reported to the scene. we have an image showing what the skyscraper looked like before the fire. here on the right-hand side, there you see, on the left is how it looked earlier with flames simply pouring out the side of the building. another image of what the building look like during the daytime before the fire broke out. john huddy joins us live now -- >> this started two hours from now at the address hotel which is downtown dubai, very busy area, very popular among tourists. 63 story hotel. it engulfs the outside, 20

stories and according to officials, anyway, duke buy media office, started on the 20th floor terrace. unclear what started the fire but a very dramatic scene also it continued to rage. at this point, at leaster early, they said it was 90% contained. we're waiting for updated information. they said everybody had been evacuated, which is incredible when you about the size of the fire. people described panic, trying to rush out of the building, 14 injuries, minor, and then one heart attack. unclear whether that was a death or part of those injuries. but the fireworks, the fireworks display, 1.6 tons at the burj khalifa, went on as scheduled, and it is really remarkable when you look at the contrast. on one hand you have building,

you look at the video from earlier, engulfed in flames, and then you see the fireworks going off, and the fact they continued the fireworks, and the amount of people that were in that area, and the overall -- not only the containment effort of the fire but the evacuation effort of that area is just extraordinary when you think about it. and then of course the ongoing security concerns that remain because of this situation. i want to stress, unclear, what exactly caused this, but when it started, it engulfed that building and went up very quick. you can see the celebrations going on right now there in downtown dubai. >> one of the things that may have saved a great many lives is what we have seen in pictures on the internet from eye witnesses who have downloaded from the scene and what one of our guests said she noticed and that is only one side of the building

was lit with flames. the other side was not. and so it is possible that this was a largely exterior fire blaze that went up the building on one side, but left alone the other side. that's what it looks like. some of these downloaded pictures on the internet and that seems to comport with what our guest said in the last hour. let's turn now to josh gatlin, who is in dubai, near the scene, the sun of country singer larry gatlin. josh, you're near the scene. what can you tell us? >> well, kind of difficult to describe when out of one eye i can see the building burn how long one side and then fireworks on the other. obviously a mix of emotion. hearing your reporting while i'm listening on the phone and

trying to get the numbers and there are no fatilities. that is amazing to me if that is in fact true. based on what i saw, that is an absolute miracle. >> how did you first find out about this and did you simply stand outside and watch was was unfolding? what did you see? >> i was on a terrace overlooking -- looking at actually the address. we had reservations at a restaurant, one of the views, the burj khalifa, and i actual my back to the address, felt the heat on my back from it. basically the building we're in connects to the address at the lower levels, and i felt the heat and within a few seconds i saw 100 people with cell phones come running towards me, and

turned around and saw it, and my first thought was -- i mean, immediately, was we don't need to be right where we are. so, we left, walked out of the parking garage, and call it's debris field would not exactly be correct but flaming material from the building on fire, security guards did not want us to exit the garage for fear that we would be hit by something falling, but again, my instincts were, we need to not be where we are so we got out. now we're a block and a half away from the address. >> josh, the officials there on 0 the scene are saying that this is basically contained and over. 90% contained, they call it. and one of the individuals that we spoke with said she saw no more flames, just smoke.

what are you seeing? can you see it? >> i certainly would not speculate on what percentage is contained. i can tell you've right now i do see flames, about ten minutes ago there was clearly significant blast, but a blast in -- i'm not suggesting it was something sinister, just as fire goes, glass explodes and things happen. so it is not contained to the extent i can tell. >> all right. josh gatlin, thank you very much for taking a few moments to speak with us. stay safe, and thank you very much. if you're just now joining us at seven minutes past the hour, fires engulfed a luxury 63 story building in dubai, very close to the world's tallest skyscraper, the burj, as it's known. not clear what caused this fire

but burning debris and embers raining down. the area was evacuated. officials say no injuries from the fire itself, though some minor injuries during the evacuation and one fatal heart attack. officials claim it is 90% contained. but it seems to be consistent with the eye witness who said she is seeing no more flames, but you heard josh gatlin saying he still sees some flames. let's town howard, former nypd commissioner. thank you for being with us. what are your thoughts as you watch the events. >> the good news is this building was built in 2008, after 9/11. the international fire codes changed significantly, and the structural integrity of new high riots were build with fire

fireproof, pressurized shafts for the firefighters to reach high stories in the building, pressurized staycations for occupants to be removed, and what i'm reading is the dubai fire department is saying it's mainly an exterior fire and not in the interior. and with multiple sprinkler systems-probably the case, and they have been doing multiple drills over the year on evacuating people, which probably contributed to the fact there were no significant injuries other than they heart attack reported. >> i know very little about fires, you know a lot. is it possible that this could have been an exterior fire only on one side? because some of the pictures downloaded on the internet show

the flip side of the building to be completely uninvolved. >> yeah. i think that's correct. i think that has a lot to do with the fireproof materials now put in new skyscrapers, to protect that from happening. in fact, statistically you're safer in a highrise building from fire if it is a newer building than you are in a lower structure, and it looks like the dubai fire department did an amazing job here, and hopefully what is being reported, there's not a lot of injuries, and this will basically burn itself out on the exterior and water being put instant through the firefighters and sprinkler. >> that would kitch it was an destroy fire how people got out? >> yes, absolutely. i've actually been there. i've been to dubai and been into this building.

it is very -- appears to be very well built. >> really. you have been to this very building that was on fire, and to some extent still is. >> yes. this is quite a while ago, probably six or seven years ago, but i wasn't there looking at it for a fire integrity standpoint. i was there on other business. >> right. well, so describe the building as you saw it back then. it was then newly built, built in the last -- >> luxury hotel in the marine no distance in dubai. not far from the burj, the tallest building in the world at the present time. dubai is a very, very modern-looking city with all new structures, and the latest and greatest in just about everything because they spent billions of dollars there.

so, i know their fire department is very well-equipped, very well-trained, and apparently the training work well in esalk waiting the build can. >> -- evacuating the building. >> how many exits would there have been? >> i can't tell you exactly but i can tell you that the international code requires wider staircases that are positive pressurized. that means is there are fans blowing positive pressure into the stairwell and so fire will not encroach into the stairwell if it entered the interior of the building. >> howard safir, former commissioner of the fire department in new york. thank you so much for being with us. we appreciate your insight. a state of pandemonium, that's the phrase that was

spoken to angus, on the 15th 15th floor of the address hotel. he said, we ran out of the room, we got the fire escape, before the fire alarm has gone off, at which point there were already people running through the corridors. i ended up having to put somebody on my back who was in a wheelchair and carry them to the ground floor. it was basically absolute pandemonium. wow, incredible words from somebody who was there on the 15th floor. some suggested this began on the 20th floor. a little unclear visually some of the pictures looks like it started below the 20th floor, and then moved up the side of the building. we spoke with one resident who said one side of the building not on fire, the other is, and that may have allowed volar and

others to get out offed inning although we know there are 14-15 injuries but they're described as minor that occurred during the evacuation. let's turn to a witness who escaped the burning building. maha, who joins us now, and can you tell us what you -- excuse me -- can you tell us what you saw? >> we were outside on the terrace having dinner, about 9:35 p.m., and then we noticed that there was flames coming from upstairs in the hotel behind us. and then -- sorry -- and then we didn't know that it was a fire or if it was just flames because they had he's outdoor heaters, and then we decided that this is a real fire, we getter get out. we started to see debris coming off the building, and a lot of

us were hesitating, go, stay here. we tried to get through, they closedded off all the entrances to the hotel, nobody could go back into the hotel. they evacuated us through side staircases on the side of the building, leading us down to the platform where the fountain show tapes. in the beginning it was chaotic, but then once we all decided to move, everyone quickly evacuated and they got us out very quickly. the side of the building that is on fire is not the side of the exit of the hotel, but it quickly engulfed the whole exterior of the hotel up to the 80 from floor. >> when you saw the whole hotel, the whole side? >> the whole side of the hotel

facing the burj. we were up on the 42nd floor an hour early and there were people in their rooms having dinner, drinks, waiting to go down to either watch the show or watch the show from their room. >> so, in other words, apparently all those people got out. the must have got 'out through the exit stairwells largely on the other side of the building that wasn't on fire. >> actually i'm not surprised that everybody in the building another out because the way they did it was so organized and so efficient and so professional. if you are reporting that everybody that was in that tower got out and nobody was hurt, i wouldn't be surprised. the way that we went through the experience, it was very well-organized. >> you say a little chaos. was there panic at any point? >> yes there was. this is a crisis situation. your don't know where to go. we weren't familiar with other exits except for going back into

the hotel. so, yeah there was. at the beginning, then everyone was saying, stay calm, stay calm, and everybody stayed calm. security was there. police were there people on the escape immediately. the dubai government, the dubai police, the dubai fire, within seconds, within minutes, they were all over the scene. >> were the people there locals, tourist, mix of both? >> a mix of a lot. there were a lot of tourists, a lot of people there on holiday, a lot of people there on vacation. the hotel is a high-end, very expensive hotel. the rooms are expensive. the dinner is very exclusive. these are not just average people that were there. there were people that were paying top dollar to stay another one of the most iconic places on new year's eve. >> when this fire first broke

out and you were there in the building, what did you think and were you concerned that you might not get out of this? >> no. we were outside and we saw that we were outside and we saw and it it was on the building weapon thought, oh, it's small. they can contain it. and then it quickly became big, and then we're like, we're outside, but we looked over and in order for us to escape there was a railing and too big of a jump so we would have had to take the stairs or go through an and it. so we couldn't go back into the hotel. >> describe the scene, what it looked like, smelled like, what you observed as this was unfolding. >> actually it was quite -- the smoke -- we didn't feel the smoke. we saw the billowing smoke but it was very high up from where we were. we were on the ground floor terrace. the reports are this was on the 20th floor and then went up.

it didn't come near where we were there. so we evacuated outs and went towards the mall north where the fire was. but everyone came down. all -- there were other restaurants at the hotel that had outdoor seating and they evacuated those people as well and told them to go into the mall. >> we hear the cheers the background. the fireworks display is unfolding and we can watch it right here. is everybody now pretty calm? >> yeah. it is. the show went on. they went -- once they realize they'd didn't have mass casualties injuries, my nephew was just watching the fireworks show right now and it's going on as we speak. they're finished or -- i'm not in front of it right now. >> given what happened, are you a little surprised that they went on with the fireworks display and the celebration? >> yeah, because there was a report that they weren't going to go on with it.

but dubai is resilient like that. they know that people came to see this, and they spent six months setting this up. the government and the people of dubai are resilient people and want to make sure that people have a good impression, and i think they assessed the situation at the hotel was under control, and said the show must go on, and wanted to make sure the people weren't disappointed. >> we talked to the former commissioner of the fire department in the nypd near new york, and he has been there as well, and he really complimented the people of dubai and how they really set up their community there. they have very strict fire codes and regulations. they practice and drill all the time for this kind of event, and you described it as incredibly organized, the evacuation. >> to be honest, we -- it's like when we were going through it,

it's as if they knew exactly what to do as if they had done this scenario. they knew where to go. all the staff were organized. they cared about getting the staff out. they knew exactly what to do. there was no question at any point when we were being evacuate we were supposed to go. even when we went to the mall they knew where to direct traffic and for people to go. as if they had this whole thing --ty they know exactly how to handle a crisis. i'm impressed and proud i'm here. >> it's remarkable. we started covering this an hour -- two hours and 20 minutes ago, and at the time, it looked as though the entire building, all the way to the 63rd floor, was engulfed with flames throughout, and that it would be impossible and inconceivable for people on the up are floors to even survive, and it turns out that it appears to be an

exterior fire on one side of the building and that everybody did get out alive and it is truly remarkable, and a compliment to how this building was built, and the fire department and the staff of the address hotel and residents there -- hotel and residence there. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> and best of luck to you there. jonathan hunt is chief correspondent, live in los angeles. what can you tell us? >> gregg, this is interesting to watch this, obviously. an odd juxtaposition when you see on one side of the screen those celebratory fireworks, on the other side of the screen, the fire engulfing the address hotel. i want to talk to you a little bit about one tweet we saw in the early going. we have been watching this for

more than two hours. one tweet in the early going was a picture of what looked like the beginning of the fire. you will remember it was said to have started on the 20th floor terrace. there was a picture of a sort of a popup tent or a cabana type stuck -- structure with the flame, and that seemed to be the exact point where the flames gathered up and rows -- rose up the entire side of the building do point to maining thes. some sort of party with some sort of cooking going on and that tent structure caught on fire and then it went up the side of the building. at the moment, we simply don't know. one other thing that struck me, gregg, as we watch this of the last couple of hours, is how on earth you go be fighting a fire in those kind of structures, of that height. there was no -- as far as we could see, and looking very closely no attempts to fight the

fire on the exterior and that mainly where the fire was. you can't get a fire truck ladder obviously when you're talking 30, 40, 50 or more stories. so it's interesting to see what was going on there obviously some major efforts going on inside one assumes, very up to date, modern sprinkle system, given that the building is only seven years old. one other interesting piece of information we discovered in our research is just in november, the city of dubai bought 20 jet packs -- not the kind of jet packs you have seen people floating aboveheart on but major industrial sized jet packs they bought specifically to fight fires in these kind of huge structures. what we're not clear on is whether they got any of those delivered yet, gregg, but they

certainly have been thinking about this as an issue. how on earth do you fight a fire in struck tours of this size and anybody 0 who has been to dubai knows the cities littered with these human buildings. finally, gregg. the dubai media office, the official twitter account of the media office, is tweeting out, happy new year wishes to everybody now, as you see the celebration there. apparently coming to a close. there's been a lot of structural damage but does indeed look act though it is a happy new year in terms of avoid what could have obviously been a far, far worse disaster if it is true that there are no serious injuries and know fatilities at all. that certainly in the eyes of a lot of people a new year's miracle. >> we talked to a veteran

firefighter who she said it may get to the point the only alternative is to allow the fire to burn itself out and let the internal sprinkle system do its job and that's to keep it away from the internal structures so it is largely a a a facade fired from the pictures and reports, that it was just one side of the building and everybody got out safely, it would happen that is precisely what happened. there was no tie fight this up to 63 floors so let it burn out, and it took about an hour and a half to largely do that. and then make sure, priority number one, get the people out of the building through the safety exits on the other side that was uninvolved with flames, and 0 according to officials, only 14 minor injuries, one fatal heart attack, during the

evacuation, but no other injuries and fatilities due the fire that's remarkable. >> it is absolutely remarkable. and then you have to look as well at the kind of organization that the authorities had to have on the ground here. i have some members of my extended family, linda edwards, my wifes a aunt and her family who are in dubai, not far from the address hotel, and they land thread this afternoon and talked about the security being very difficult to get to their home, which is very close to the hotel, because of the numbers of people on the street, for these celebrations. there have been reports of up to million people planning to attend this celebration of the new year in dubai. then you've got all of these hundreds if not thousands of people being evacuated from the hotel, and linda, my wife's aunt, was telling me the

authorities were going door-to-door to homes and other buildings in the neighborhood, trying to evacuate people. they turned the lights off and locked the doors, easier to stay where they are rather than to go out in huge crowds and being homeless for the next few hours, but it's a huge organizational problem on the ground. never mind fighting the fire itself. so, you have to look at dubai, which is an extremely modern, very well-streak toured, very well-organized city, and pay tribute to the way authorities handled this on every level. >> thank you very much. late turn now to a sky arabia correspondent in dubai. what did you see and hear? >> this happened at 9:15. we were preparing everything for the celebration of the new year,

and the fireworks at burj khalifa and then we see the fire comings out, and started to go up, and five minutes up to very high. so evacuation started very fast. evacuate everyone from the dubai mall. we had to enter inside and it was very well done and very well-organized. some people didn't know what is happening outside. some people were staying in the restaurant, eating,. so, basically this what happened in the first few minutes. then the security and the firemen just arrived and started to work. >> what's going on flight? are there still flames on the

building. >> interior. >> is any of the building on fire. >> the right side of the hotel which is on fire and the firemen are almost controlling all the fire, so it's just one part. so, now we are standing outside the mall, which is very close to the address hotel, and from the other side you can see everything is just normal. so the fire is happening to the right side, from the front side of the hotel. so it's now -- if you are where i am now you can see everything is very normal, and even the celebration of the new year happened like half an hour ago and the fireworks at the burj khalifa took place and everything was amazing. people just moved to inside the place where the front of burj khalifa and went to gather in

another place to see the fireworks. >> to summerrize, the fireworks are over. the fire -- >> yes -- >> -- on the hotel is largely out and contained, and it was only half, one side of the building. right? >> yes. actually, just like on the front side, the right side of the front side, that's it. so as i was saying, if you just stand in the back side of the hotel, as if nothing is happening. the other side, the right side, the firemen are just finishing their work. >> were people panicking as they saw this happening? people were being evacuate, was there chaos and panic? >> let's see. by 9:15, there was a lot of people in this area, and, yes, it was very easy for people to see the -- on fire.

so they start to run inside and then security ask people to go inside the dubai mall, which is very close to the address hotel. okay? and as i toll -- told you before, wearing normal because they were eating and shopping, and hearing from other people hearing that fire happening in the other step. so this is what happened. now everything is almost under control. injuries, no deaths. 14 injuries. and everything went good and now people are just going back home after the celebration of the new year. >> now, we understood there was -- during the course of the evacuation people were herd away from that hotel because of some of the debris and embers that were raining down throughout the

streets on that side of the building, but are they being allowed back in to the area near the -- >> no, no. they went to the other side, where i'm standing now. they went to the front side, where they were gathering, and then they went to the other side. everything in front of the hotel is totally empty now and dubai mall, which is next to the address hotel, is empty as well. and burj khalifa and the address hotel and the dubai mall are just next to each other, these three big things. into that why people were gathering all in this place. then they went in the back side of the address hotel and dubai mall, and wait for the celebration and the fireworks. >> thank you very much for being with us. really appreciate your time. >> thank you so much.

>> fire engulfed a luxury 63 story building in dubai, very close to the world's tallest skyscraper, and just before a fireworks for midnight, new year's eve, was about to begin. not clear what caused this fire but certainly raining debris from the building, threatened the lives of people around and it embers as well. but that area was evacuated. we have another -- a global radio news reporter in dubai. what can you tell us? >> well, i'm about ten miles away from burj khalifa, in the biddle of dubai, middle of downtown, where the dubai mall would be, the biggest mall in the world, the biggest fountains. this is the tallest building in the world and the rest of hotel is in the middle of this huge complex so this is a place on a night like tonight, most of the

time, it crowded and tonight it's packed. so the fact this fire happened was -- word got around quickly as far as where i am that this fire was happening and that nobody was seriously hurt. so, celebrations went on as normal. we could see the top of the burj khalifa and saw the spectacular fireworks carry on as planned a half hour ago. and people are reassured that nobody was hurt. people are impressed the way the authorities handled it. this is a very, very new city, not planned like a grid. this is not times square. the roads are constantly changing so it's impressive they way they were able to evacuation and control the situation. >> talk to us about -- it seems very calm but talk to us about the mood and the feeling there when all of this was unfolding. was it calm then?

>> no, it wasn't. i'm not in the area. where i am there was a buzz, a bit of a panic on social media. i had my relatives and friends -- a handful of notifications on my phone, are you okay? big deal in dubai. and that wave passed as soon as possible people found out nobody had been killed, and i understand that even there on site, it was not much of panic, things were under control. fire was happening but at the same time the evacuation was under control. >> and now what is going on there in dubai? >> well, i can tell you right now that this whole area -- there's a waterfront in this area right outside burj khalifa and the dubai mall that has a fantastic view of the burj. over right at the bail of this extremely spectacular, monumental building, seeing the fireworks, and there's starbucks

there, tim horton's, restaurants, and they were selling per seat to have dinner or coffee or a the restaurant. a minimum spend of $130. i heard reports -- no way to confirm dish heard there was a million people to be in this area of downtown dubai tonight, it's festive where i am. people sit out in the streets, look at the burj, watch the fission, cheering. this is a central destination, people come from all over the world to see these displays, celebration, upscale restaurants, upscale hotel, and it is a festive nightbe fitting new year's that was unfortunately marred by this huge fire put continues to be festive and happy.

>> it is -- when you think about this, this is really remarkable thing. 63 stories. one side of the building, a fire leaps up the side, all the way to the top, and yet everybody gets out. >> yes. >> everybody gets out uninjured largely. some minor injuries on the evacuation. nobody killed by this. >> yeah, it is. it was a big fire. it is really incredible hearing the speed at which this fire spread. i saw one of the first pictures on twitter and everything is instant you. see what is happening right way. one of the first pictures shows what looked like a flame coming out of one window, apparently authorities say it started on the 20th floor and instantly raced up the side of the building, and 63 stories on its own is an impressive, large building, for the flames to have

reached that far that fast is incredible, and the fact that nobody is underis incredible. sounds like the fire from the reports from the civil defense, sounds like the fire was something external to the structure of the building, which we can be grateful for and it is a miracle nobody tied. >> the pictures are deceiving and look at it here. it looks like the whole building is just engulfed in flames, and yet it would appear to be that this is what is described as an exterior fire on just one half, one side, of the building, and so pictures can certainly be deceiving, but -- >> yes. >> remarkable thing. >> it's a bit of a breezy night. this is the cool time in dubai. it's about 130-degrees for half the year here, 130 fahrenheit. it's a cool night.

there's a bit of a breeze. that always will affect how a fire and smoke spread. and it's early. the fire is either ongoing or -- really interesting for us to see what the official word is, why it happened, where it spread to, how it spread, and who what affected and how much. these are still the early reports. so have to wait and see how many people were injured and what the extent of injuries. >> thank you so much for'ing with us. >> thank you, happy new year. >> speaking of people who may have been injured, we're getting a lot of reports from people who were there in dubai, who were there at the scene, some who were at the hotel itself, some nearby. kenneth flynn, who had been in the hotel just before it was evacuated, told us panic and quote, people crushing each other, trying to get out of the hotel. he said he had been about two stories up just having a trunk with his partner when -- a drink

with his partner when she noticed something falling from the building. he said when we walked out the whole building was ablaze. the heat was intense, people started to panic, trying get to down the stairs. he says he heard no fire alarm adding i was absolutely terrified. so you're getting obviously different accounts of the ehaven'ts. one person was there at the building, saying they were very organized in the evacuation, complimenting the hotel staff. another person saying as they tried get out in the stairwell, people were trying to crush others to get out and over them. chief meteorology rick reithmuth is standing by. rick, a moment ago as we were talking to lubna who was there she was talking about the cool unless of the weather. weather may have been a favorable factor here? >> yes, certainly, interesting it's all perspective.

coolness for. the is 72 degrees right now. so, cool by their standards. a little bit cooler, although their average this time of year is 75 or 76. but 72, winds not that bad. she said a breeze but actually just between -- been between seven and nine-miles-an-hour for the last three to four hours. if you had higher winds than that it would cause bigger problems for fighting the fire and potentially disbursing embers in the neighboring areas and spark fires. because the winds were light that was favorable, and helped. that said, within any fire, because you have the heat from the fire itself, that heat rises, and that air that is someplaced has to be filled, and so you do get your own winds atlanta are higher itself. the atmosphere conditions, winds were not a problem. temperatures good.

precipitation not at all. clear conditions there. there is this -- this is kind of -- if there there is a rainy season, this it. they average 3 3/4 insures of rain a year. so they'll get rain in ha a few day -- in a few days. overall the weather conditions favorable for fighting a fire and favorable for not having problems with embers being blown elsewhere, as well as if you have stagnant air or fog, smoke could have been trapped but the smoke just raising straight up, and drifting just a little bit. >> looks like variety of factors, including weather, rick, played a favorable role in all of this. good weather conditions. no high winds that would have whipped the flames. you have flames that were, i

assume contained to the exterior part of the building due largely to not only the construction of the buildings itself but the fire systems within, the internal sprinkle systems that are supposed to con dane a -- contain a fire or push to the outside where it is allowed to burn out. there's no other way to fight this fire. a veteran firefighter said beyond the sixth, seventh floor, you can't get to a fire on the outside with hoses. that is your limit. there are methods and stovepipes in the interior where you can run water up -- stand pipes, i should say -- but he didn't know about the systems within this building and we don't know what role that would have played. but weather could have made this

worse. thank you very much. let's turn to linda edwards, an american living near the scene of the fire. linda, you were the first person i heard talk about this but it was born out by the photos downloaded by the tourist is. one side of the building was completely calm and the other side of the building was alit with flames. >> that's right. the side of the building facing the dubai lake, a manmade shallow lake that goes between the address hotel, the dubai mall, the burj khalifa, the old town island and what is being built as the dubai opera rouse was completely engulfed on one side while the other side of the building was not on fire. a very one-sided fire.

>> that would account for the ability of all those people -- one fellow said the hotel was filled and the people were on the upper floors, on the 40th 40th 50,, 60th floors, and they were preparing for a big celebration and fireworks display. >> which went on as planned. >> yes, and those people got out of the building. must have down so through the exit stairwells on the other side of the building. >> if you had been here watching it you would, like me, think it was just a miracle they're reporting no deaths at this point. i was talking to one of the security guys here on old town island, and he was saying we'll have to wait until tomorrow to really know everything, but he said right now there are no casualties other than smoke and

maybe a few burns, but nobody seriously injured, and i can tell you that when it was on fire and everybody was being evacuated from the whole area, they were really pushing people down. there's a ring road that goes around the whole old town area called the boulevard, and they were herding people along on it, and they were expecting somewhere around a million people to be gathered in this area to watch the fireworks display. so, thousands of people. and everybody was crying and praying and just horrified because it looked like there must be so many people that would die in this. so it's just amazing to think they managed to evacuate these people safely. >> talk to us a bit more about people's reactions. must have been looking up in the sky at this billing building ant been horrified at at the prospect -- >> but this is 2015 so there

were hundred thousand phones, and ipads and cameras out documenting it at the same time as sort of this morbid fascination. >> interesting. >> just beyond belief. >> what else did you see? >> the other thing, it filled like it was raining because bits of the building with shower down on you. i i'm out on my balcony, and the whole balcony is strewn from debris from the aftermath. i can look up and see but it's a block away from where i am on old town island. but i'm in the drift line of the smoke, and so there was a whole lot of debris that was blowing off the building, and in fact there are big pieces of metal and lots of insulation and things that are just strewn

about everywhere. >> usually, just looks so awful at the time, which belied the truth of what was really going on. at one point in time you feared that the building itself might collapse in on itself. right? >> absolutely did. i was terrified that the building was going to just -- i mean, i think the building must be totaled. i just don't see how they can just repair it, because the fire just absolutely consumed the one side of the building, and the fire was burning the strongest down at the bottom. the security guy said they -- that the secure people think it may have started in the basement, and then there were a number of very loud explosions about an hour or so ago, when the gas in the building ignited

and exploded. so that was a little bit frightening and people kind of gasped. but the security people weren't afraid at all and the explosions happened and they said that's just the gas in the building. >> i'm sure they shut down the gas lines initially but you would still have pockets of gas trapped and -- >> i guess that's -- >> -- exploded. >> i guess that's right. linda, you have been -- >> yeah. >> i appreciate your insight and your help with this in describing the eaccepts of what looked to be a horrific fire that would surely claim lives, and turns out, at least so far, based on the information, that everybody got out alive. linda edwards, thank you very much. let's turn now to john huddy who is live in jerusalem with additional information. john? >> reporter: greg, according to the dubai media office, their official twitter page, dubai's

department of tourism and commerce says that guests were evacuated from the address hotel will be provided alternative hotel accommodations. so the number of people evacuated will have somewhere to go. not be stranded. it's it's quite a contrast, gregg, when you saw the ongoing fire, the fear that engulfed the one side of the building so quickly when it first started, and then on the other side you see the celebration, people ringing in the new year there in dubai, just across the same area of dubai, at the burj khalifa build, world's tallest skyscaper. the show win on as scheduled. dubai officials, the general director of the city's information, said this would continue, and it did very much so. 14 minor injuries according to

officials. one person suffered a heart attack, apparently according to reports, fatal heart attack, others smoke inhalation. because of the massive amount of smoke from the building, and we have been seeing that. the fire rage and smoke coming up. people -- we have seen some reports it was chaotic, pandemonium, and then as you just heard from our guests over the phone, others are saying it was very well-coordinated. the evacuation effort. very professionally. this is a relatively new building. seven years old. so one would presume it would have a state of -- state to of the art system. one side of the building was engulfed in flames. does not appear that it spread throughout the rest of the building. it's unclear how this started.

were there were -- there were some reports it started on the 20th floor at the ramps it's unclear. maple maybe people were out there, cooking, maybe something set off the fire and then quickly spread. then others said that possibly it started on one of the bottom levels. very busy area, though. up to a million people expected to be there. so incredibly dramatic scene and massive evacuation effort that again remarkably no one was killed, at least were trapped inside the building. one fatal heart attack. >> that is great news from what appeared too be a really horrific fire that was going to claim lives. it did not, ate -- at least that is the information we have so far but there was intense smoke and intense heat. here's some can who describes it -- we'll get to that. let's go to pictures of people

who apparently were injured during the evacuation, let's pop them up on the screen. these are freeze frame photographses 0 people who appear to be jumped authorities are describing the 14 injuries as minor. there was one fatal heart attack. the said happened during the evacuation. but they have insisted over the course of the last two or three hours that nobody actually died by virtue of the fire itself from the flames or smoke inhill layings or being trapped and burned. these are people, again, still freeze-frame pictures of individual what what described as the chaos of this huge fire, managed to survive, though with some injuries. the pictures make it look a lot more serious, and maybe they are. hard to temp let's go to the

third who described the intense heat. >> at that stage issue walked out to look at it and the whole building was up in flames, the whole place. the heat was into intense outside, unbelievable, and then panicked. people started to panic. crashing each other, trying to get down the stairs jumping over railings. i couldn't believe how fast it actually happened. >> that was an individual who was there describing the heat, describing the smoke. amazing. noah browning joins, a reuters account in -- cores respondent. >> a fire was reported at the address hotel, one of the most prominent skyscrapers in dubai. part of a luxury complex of tall

buildings in the city's downtown. now, the fireworks display for new year's is kind of dubai's moment on the world stage. one of the biggest fireworks displays in the whole world, and it's always an opportunity for them to showcase all they have accomplished, all they've built in a relatively short time, and this kind of desert country. and it was said that there was a kind of loud explosion, possibly caused by maybe a gas explosion main. this could -- the causes are not yet clear. right around the 20th floor on the outside of the building and witnesses reported the fire shot up and down very promptly from that point. at that point local media started reporting this was an issue. people were understandably concerned whether it was going affect the fireworks display going on, and dubai officials kind of very defiantly said it would go on, and then lo and

behold an hour and a half later there were fireworks shows in the spectacular way everybody anticipated. it seemed from the live view's of the area that most of the spectators had been evacuated. there seemed to be only a few dozen people around when it had been projected that hundreds of thousands of people, tourists and expatriate workers and locals would be there to take in the saying. that didn't happen. thankfully, the worse case, a huge fire in a building this tall was avoided. there were only a dozen officially conformed light injuries, although a medical official on the scene said there were something more like 60 light injuries. there's also kind of typical things in a situation like this. smoke inhalation and people kind of postjostling each other.

>> so could have been a real strategy with a massive loss hoff life when you think about a high-end luxury hotel filled to capacity on new year's eve, it suddenly witness with flames, you we know just on one side of the billing, but -- nevertheless could have spread and -- this could have claimed hundreds of lives and yet, fortune by virtue of the construction of the building and water systems and the favorable weather, turns out everybody gets out, and only minor injuries during the course of what is described by some as an orderly evacuation, pandemonium by others. and so noah browning, thank you for being with us. around terse correspondent in

dubai. i mentioned it's 63 stories. there are 626 apartments. 196 hotel rooms. built about seven years ago. it is described as the best of the best. a five-star hotel, and building, and there are actually three of them at this address hotel. that's the name of the hotel, the address hotel. they're building a third one just as the first one has burned, at least half has burn, but it is now apparently fully contained. seems to be consistent with the eye witness accounts of not seeing much in the way of flames, although those pictures would belie that. so there are still some flames there put they said it is largely contained, and no fatilities, at least reported so far. initial reports say it began on

the 20th floor but eye witnesses say it was more like the first, the second, the third. i'm gregg jarrett in for shepard smith, "your world" with neil cavuto is next. >> welcome everything. on the left of the screens moscow, the new year coming into red square, even though authorities are on a heightened terror alert and urging people to stay indoors. new yorkers getting no such wording and tens of thousands tonight, million plus, storming into new york's times square. the most iconic new years spot on the planet where we're expecting to have a billion viewers see the new year arrive on the eastern coast of the united states. so far, so good. a lot of people have eschewed warning they have to pack