List of fires in high-rise buildings

A skyscraper fire or high-rise fire is a class of structural fire specific to tall buildings. Skyscraper fires are one of the most technical fire suppression challenges posed to modern fire departments, and require a high degree of organization and cooperation among participating units to be successfully contained and extinguished. Skyscraper fires are often multiple-alarm fires.

Typical American fire department response pattern

In the event of a skyscraper fire, the first action that needs to be taken is the activation of the fire alarm system and subsequent evacuation of the building's occupants. The fire department, after responding, will then divide into various teams to accomplish different tasks. For instance, one or more teams will be responsible for searching the building floor by floor (starting at the fire floor) for trapped or unevacuated occupants. Another team will be assigned to attack the fire at the fire floor. A Firefighter Assist and Search Team (FAST) will standby at the floor below the fire ready to assist in case of a mayday. A team will also be assigned to shut off the building's utilities. All these operations may be coordinated and controlled from a central command vehicle mobilized to the scene.

Various roles are required on the exterior as well. A truck or ladder company will be responsible for establishing means of egress on the outside of the building, providing horizontal ventilation by breaking windows if necessary, and possibly assisting in the suppression effort from the exterior with master streams. Various crews, or at minimum individuals, will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the various water supplies. EMTs and paramedics will be responsible for establishing care to victims of the fire and monitoring firefighters who recently exited the building. Last but not least, the officer in command of the incident may establish a team to assist him in his organizational duties.

Notable fires

Building	Location	Date	Death(s)	Notes
Central Tower	San Francisco	1906-04-18 April 18, 1906	?	Burned in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Merchants Exchange Building	San Francisco	1906-04-18 April 18, 1906	?	Burned in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Old Chronicle Building	San Francisco	1906-04-18 April 18, 1906	?	Burned in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Mutual Bank Building	San Francisco	1906-04-18 April 18, 1906	?	Burned in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Asch Building	New York City	1911-03-25 March 25, 1911	146	Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Sherry-Netherland	New York City	1927-04-12 April 12, 1927	0	Occurred during construction
Empire State Building	New York City	1945-07-28 July 28, 1945	14	Plane crash
40 Wall Street	New York City	1946-05-20 May 20, 1946	5	Plane crash
Winecoff Hotel	Atlanta	1946-12-07 December 7, 1946	119	Deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history
1 New York Plaza	New York City	1970-08-05 August 5, 1970	2
Taeyongak Hotel	Seoul	1971-12-25 December 25, 1971	163	Daeyeonggak Hotel fire, deadliest hotel fire in history
Andraus Building	São Paulo	1972-02-24 February 24, 1972	16
Rault Tower	New Orleans	1972-11-29 November 29, 1972	6
Joelma Building	São Paulo	1974-02-01 February 1, 1974	179–189	Joelma fire
One World Trade Center	New York City	1975-02-13 February 13, 1975	0
Campbell Shopping Complex	Kuala Lumpur	1976-04-08 April 8, 1976	1	Campbell Shopping Complex fire
Bank Bumiputra	Kuala Lumpur	1980-11-80 November 4, 1980
MGM Grand Hotel	Las Vegas	1980-11-21 November 21, 1980	84	MGM Grand fire
Las Vegas Hilton	Las Vegas	1981-2-10 February 10, 1981	8	Arson
Torre Santa María	Santiago	1981-3-21 March 21, 1981	11	Occurred when carpet glue ignited during carpet installation.^[1]
Al Rasheed Hotel	Baghdad	1982-7-21 July 21, 1982	1	Plane crash-Suicide by F-4 Phantom during Iran-Iraq War
Northwestern National Bank	Minneapolis	1980-11-21 November 25–26, 1982	0	Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire
KOMTAR	Penang, Malaysia	1983-1-23 January 23, 1983	0
Dupont Plaza Hotel	Condado, Puerto Rico	1986-12-31 December 31, 1986	97	Dupont Plaza Hotel arson
Hotel International	Zurich	1988-02-14 February 14, 1988	6	Deadliest high-rise fire in Swiss history
First Interstate Tower	Los Angeles	1988-05-04 May 4, 1988	1	First Interstate Tower fire
Peachtree 25th Building	Atlanta	1989-06-30 June 30, 1989	1
One Meridian Plaza	Philadelphia	1991-02-23 February 23–24, 1991	3
UNITIC Twin Towers	Sarajevo	1992-05-28 May 28, 1992		Burned after being repeatedly hit by Serbian incendiary tank shells.
Bosnian Parliament Building	Sarajevo	1992-05-28 May 28, 1992		Burned after being repeatedly hit by Serbian incendiary tank shells.
Bijlmermeer Apartment Complex	Amsterdam Zuidoost, Netherlands	1992-10-04 October 4, 1992	43	El Al Flight 1862 plane crash, Partial collapse
One World Trade Center	New York City	1993-02-26 February 26, 1993	6	Bombing which also resulted in 1,042 smoke related injuries
Stratosphere Tower	Las Vegas	1993-08-30 August 30, 1993	0	Occurred during construction
White House (Moscow)	Moscow	1993-10-08 October 8, 1993	unknown	Caught fire from tank shelling during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis
Tower 42	London	1996-1-17 January 17, 1996	0	Occurred during refurbishment
Garley building	Hong Kong	1996-11-20 November 20, 1996	41	1996 Garley Building fire
Ušće Tower	Belgrade	1999-04-21 April 21, 1999	0	Struck by NATO air strikes during the Kosovo War setting the upper floors on fire.
Immigration Tower	Hong Kong	2000-08-02 August 2, 2000	2	Arson
Ostankino Tower	Moscow	2000-08-27 August 27, 2000	3	Tallest structure in Europe
1 and 2 World Trade Center	New York City	2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	2312	Plane crashes in the September 11 attacks, causing full structural collapse.
7 World Trade Center	New York City	2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	0	Full structural collapse caused by debris from the collapse of One World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.
90 West Street	New York City	2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	2	Caused by debris from the collapse of Two World Trade Center: September 11 attacks
Pirelli Tower	Milan	2002-04-18 April 18, 2002	3	Plane crash
Al Rasheed Hotel	Baghdad	2003-12-26 December 26, 2003	1	twenty-eight 68 mm and 85 mm Katyusha rockets were fired at and struck the hotel
Parque Central Complex east tower	Caracas	2004-10-17 October 17, 2004	0	Damage to 34th-44th floors
Windsor Tower	Madrid	2005-02-12 February 12, 2005	0	Partially collapsed; subsequently demolished
Tohid Town Residential	Tehran	2005-12-06 December 6, 2005	116/128	Plane crash: 2005 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash
Transport Tower	Astana, Kazakhstan	2006-05-30 May 30, 2006	0	Fire destroyed upper floors of 34-storey government building
Belaire Apartments	New York City	2006-10-11 October 11, 2006	2	Plane crash
Fortune Tower	Dubai	2007-01-18 January 18, 2007	4	Occurred during construction, 57 injured
Shanghai World Financial Center	Shanghai	2007-08-14 August 14, 2007	0	Occurred on 40th floor during construction
Deutsche Bank Building	New York City	2007-08-18 August 18, 2007	2	Occurred during dismantling, demolished due to damage from the September 11 attacks
Monte Carlo Resort and Casino	Las Vegas	2008-01-25 January 25, 2008	0	Fire affecting top six floors
Abraj Al Bait Towers	Mecca	2008-10-28 October 28, 2008	0	Occurred during construction; fire consumed nine floors
Beijing Television Cultural Center	Beijing	2009-02-09 February 9, 2009	1	Beijing Television Cultural Center fire
Bashundhara City Tower	Dhaka	2009-03-13 March 13, 2009	4
Abraj Al Bait Towers	Mecca	2009-05-01 May 1, 2009	0	Occurred during construction
al buteena fire	Sharjah	2009-05-01 June 6, 2010	0	^[2]
Unnamed high-rise apartment block	Shanghai	2010-11-15 November 15, 2010	58	Occurred during renovation; 2010 Shanghai fire
Dynasty Wanxin building complex Towers A and B (Tower C was unaffected)	Shenyang	2011-02-03 February 3, 2011	0	Started from fireworks during Chinese New Year Celebrations.^[3]
Unnamed Highrise	Hanoi	2011-12-16 December 15, 2011	0	Fire occurred during construction, 11 workers injured.^[4]
Uncompleted high rise block	Kuala Lumpur	2012-01-18 January 18, 2012	0	^[5]
Fico Place	Bangkok	2012-03-03 March 3, 2012	0	2 firemen injured^[6]
Federation Tower (East Tower)	Moscow	2012-04-2 April 2, 2012	0	Occurred while the building was under construction
Al Tayer Tower	Sharjah	2012-04-28 April 28, 2012	0	^[7]
Polat Tower Residence	Istanbul	2012-07-17 July 17, 2012	0	^[8]
Tamweel Tower	Dubai	2012-11-18 November 18, 2012	0	^[9]
Oko Tower 1	Moscow	2013-01-25 January 25, 2013	0	Fire occurred on 24th floor during construction, one worker was injured.^[10]
Torre Ejecutiva Pemex Tower	Mexico City	2013-01-31 January 31, 2013	33	Gas explosion affecting the main building's 14 story annex Torre Ejecutiva Pemex explosion
Grozny-City Towers	Grozny	2013-04-03 April 3, 2013	0	^[11]
Jianye Mansion	Guangzhou	2013-04-03 December 15, 2013	0	^[12]
The Strand	New York City	2014-01-05 January 5, 2014	1	^[13]
Lotus Park building	Mumbai	2014-07-18 July 18, 2014	1	^[14]
Wedgwood Apartments	Castle Hills, Texas	2014-12-28 December 28, 2014	5	^[15]
The Marina Torch	Dubai	2015-02-21 February 21, 2015	0	At least 7 people were injured.
One57	New York City	2015-03-15 March 15, 2015	0	Fire broke out in the loading dock, then spread to the courtyard and a neighboring property.
Wisma Kosgoro	Jakarta	2015-03-10 March 10, 2015	0	Fire destroyed floor 16-20.^[16]
Unnamed Highrise	Baku	2015-05-19 May 19, 2015	16	See 2015 Baku residence building fire
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas	Las Vegas	2015-07-25 July 25, 2015	0	Fire occurred on the pool deck fueled by cabanas and artificial trees, two people were treated for smoke inhalation.^[17]
Unnamed Residential Tower	Sharjah	2015-10-01 October 1, 2015	0	Fire burned building facade, 19 treated for smoke inhalation.^[18]
John Hancock Center	Chicago	2015-11-21 November 21, 2015	0	A two-alarm fire broke out on the 50th floor. Five injured.^[19]
The Address Downtown Dubai	Dubai	2015-12-31 December 31, 2015	1	Occurred on New Year's Eve, 14 injured.^[20]