List of fires in high-rise buildings

The following is a 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 technically challenging for fire departments: they require unusually high degrees of organization and cooperation between participating firefighting units to contain and extinguish. Skyscraper fires are often multiple-alarm fires.

Notable fires

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Building	Height (m)	City	Country	Date	Death(s)	Notes
Central Tower	91 m[1]	San Francisco	United States	1906-04-18 April 18, 1906	?	Burned in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Merchants Exchange Building	69 m[2]
Old Chronicle Building	95 m[3]
Mutual Bank Building
Asch Building	48 m[4]	New York City		1911-03-25 March 25, 1911	146	Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Sherry-Netherland	171 m[5]	New York City		1927-04-12 April 12, 1927	0	Occurred during construction
Empire State Building	381 m[6]	New York City		1945-07-28 July 28, 1945	14	Plane crash
40 Wall Street	283 m[7]	New York City		1946-05-20 May 20, 1946	5	Plane crash
La Salle Hotel		Chicago		1946-06-05 June 5, 1946	61	Electrical fire likely
Winecoff Hotel	59 m[8]	Atlanta		1946-12-07 December 7, 1946	119	Deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history
Ronan Point	64 m[9]	London	United Kingdom	1968-05-16 May 16, 1968	4	Gas explosion caused partial collapse of the highrise.
1 New York Plaza	192 m[10]	New York City	United States	1970-08-05 August 5, 1970	2	Sparked from a faulty computer connection[11]
Taeyongak Hotel	72.6 m	Seoul	South Korea	1971-12-25 December 25, 1971	163	Daeyeonggak Hotel fire, deadliest hotel fire in history
Andraus Building	115 m[12]	São Paulo	Brazil	1972-02-24 February 24, 1972	16	Sparked from an electrical overload[13]
Rault Tower		New Orleans	United States	1972-11-29 November 29, 1972	6	Suspected arson[14]
Avianca Building	161 m	Bogotá	Colombia	1974-07-23 July 23, 1973	4	Sparked on the 14th floor
City-Haus	142 m	Frankfurt	West Germany	1974-02-01 August 23, 1973	0	Occurred during construction
Joelma Building	82.5 m	São Paulo	Brazil	1974-02-01 February 1, 1974	179–189	Joelma fire
One World Trade Center	417 m	New York City	United States	1975-02-13 February 13, 1975	0	Arson[15]
Campbell Shopping Complex	66 m	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	1976-04-08 April 8, 1976	1	Campbell Shopping Complex fire
Bank Bumiputra		Kuala Lumpur		1980-11-80 November 4, 1980
MGM Grand Hotel	85.8 m	Las Vegas	United States	1980-11-21 November 21, 1980	84	MGM Grand fire
Las Vegas Hilton	114 m	Las Vegas		1981-2-10 February 10, 1981	8	Arson
Torre Santa María		Santiago	Chile	1981-3-21 March 21, 1981	11	Occurred when carpet glue ignited during carpet installation.[16]
Al Rasheed Hotel	59.4 m	Baghdad	Iraq	1982-7-21 July 21, 1982	1	Plane crash-Suicide by F-4 Phantom during Iran-Iraq War
Northwestern National Bank	52.8 m	Minneapolis	United States	1980-11-21 November 25–26, 1982	0	Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire
KOMTAR	248.7 m	Penang	Malaysia	1983-1-23 January 23, 1983	0	Likely occurred due to welding sparks[17]
Prudential Tower	276 m	Boston	United States	1983-1-23 January 2, 1986	0	A nine-alarm fire in the building spread because of the lack of a sprinkler system.[18][19]
Dupont Plaza Hotel		Condado, Puerto Rico	United States	1986-12-31 December 31, 1986	97	Dupont Plaza Hotel arson
Schomburg Plaza		New York City	United States	1987-03-22 March 22, 1987	7	Ignited from the plaza's trash compactor room[20]
Hotel International	85 m	Zurich	Switzerland	1988-02-14 February 14, 1988	6	Deadliest high-rise fire in Swiss history
First Interstate Tower	261.52 m	Los Angeles	United States	1988-05-04 May 4, 1988	1	First Interstate Tower fire
Peachtree 25th Building	33 m	Atlanta		1989-06-30 June 30, 1989	5	Peachtree 25th Building fire
One Meridian Plaza	150 m	Philadelphia		1991-02-23 February 23–24, 1991	3	Occurred when rags ignited, fire spread uncontrollably after all fire protection systems failed.[21] Later torn down.
UNITIC Twin Towers	105.5 m	Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1992-05-28 May 28, 1992		Burned after being repeatedly hit by Serbian incendiary tank shells.
Executive Council Building	69.3 m	Sarajevo		1992-05-28 May 28, 1992		Burned after being repeatedly hit by Serbian incendiary tank shells.
Groeneveen and Kruitberg	33 m	Amsterdam	Netherlands	1992-10-04 October 4, 1992	43	El Al Flight 1862 plane crash, Partial collapse
One World Trade Center	417 m	New York City	United States	1993-02-26 February 26, 1993	6	Bombing which also resulted in 1,042 smoke related injuries
Stratosphere Tower	350.2 m	Las Vegas		1993-08-30 August 30, 1993	0	Occurred during construction
White House (Moscow)		Moscow	Russia	1993-10-08 October 8, 1993	187	Caught fire from tank shelling during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis
Hotel Olympik	73 m	Prague	Czech Republic	1995-05-26 May 25, 1995	8	Occurred on the 11th floor within a janitor's closet[22]
Tower 42	183 m	London	United Kingdom	1996-1-17 January 17, 1996	0	Occurred during refurbishment
Garley building	52.8 m	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	1996-11-20 November 20, 1996	41	1996 Garley Building fire
Ušće Tower	115 m	Belgrade	Serbia and Montenegro	1999-04-21 April 21, 1999	0	Struck by NATO air strikes during the Kosovo War setting the upper floors on fire.
Immigration Tower	181 m	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	2000-08-02 August 2, 2000	2	Arson
Ostankino Tower	540.1 m	Moscow	Russia	2000-08-27 August 27, 2000	3	Tallest structure in Europe
1 and 2 World Trade Center	417 m / 415.1 m	New York City	United States	2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	2,312	Plane crashes in the September 11 attacks, causing explosion, structural damage, and fires resulting in collapse.
7 World Trade Center	190 m	New York City		2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	0	Full structural collapse caused by debris from the collapse of Building 1 (North tower) of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.
90 West Street	98.76 m	New York City		2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	2	Caused by debris from the collapse of Building 2 (South Tower) of the World Trade Center: September 11 attacks
130 Cedar Street	50 m	New York City		2001-09-11 September 11, 2001	0	Caused by debris from the collapse of Building 2 (South Tower) of the World Trade Center: September 11 attacks
Pirelli Tower	127 m	Milan	Italy	2002-04-18 April 18, 2002	3	Plane crash
Cook County Administration Building		Chicago	United States	2003-10-17 October 17, 2003	6	Seven other seriously injured, fire thought to have been arson[23][24]
Al Rasheed Hotel	59.4 m	Baghdad	Iraq	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	255 m	Caracas	Venezuela	2004-10-17 October 17, 2004	0	Damage to 34th-44th floors
LaSalle National Bank Building	163.1 m	Chicago	United States	2004-12-07 December 7, 2004	0	25 injured[25]
Harrow Court	56.1 m	Hertfordshire	United Kingdom	2005-02-02 February 2, 2005	3	Harrow Court fire
Windsor Tower	106 m	Madrid	Spain	2005-02-12 February 12, 2005	0	Partially collapsed; subsequently demolished
Tohid Town Residential	33 m	Tehran	Iran	2005-12-06 December 6, 2005	106	Plane crash: 2005 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash
Transport Tower	112.2 m	Astana	Kazakhstan	2006-05-30 May 30, 2006	0	Fire destroyed upper floors of 34-story government building
Belaire Apartments	156 m	New York City	United States	2006-10-11 October 11, 2006	2	Plane crash
Fortune Tower		Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2007-01-18 January 18, 2007	4	Occurred during construction, 57 injured
Shanghai World Financial Center	494.3 m	Shanghai	China	2007-08-14 August 14, 2007	0	Occurred on 40th floor during construction
Deutsche Bank Building	157.6 m	New York City	United States	2007-08-18 August 18, 2007	2	Occurred during dismantling, demolished due to damage from the September 11 attacks
The Water Club	125.4 m	Atlantic City		2007-09-23 September 23, 2007	0	Occurred during construction.[26]
Monte Carlo Resort and Casino	110 m	Las Vegas		2008-01-25 January 25, 2008	0	Fire affecting top six floors
TU Delft Faculteitsgebouw Bouwkunde	56 m	Delft	The Netherlands	2008-04-13 April 13, 2008	0	A broken water pipe on the 8th floor caused a short circuit in a coffee machine a floor below, resulting in a fire. [27] The building was demolished afterwards.
Abraj Al Bait Towers	601 m	Mecca	Saudi Arabia	2008-10-28 October 28, 2008	0	Occurred during construction; fire consumed nine floors
Beijing Television Cultural Center	159 m	Beijing	China	2009-02-09 February 9, 2009	1	Beijing Television Cultural Center fire
Bashundhara City Tower	62.7 m	Dhaka	Bangladesh	2009-03-13 March 13, 2009	4
Abraj Al Bait Towers		Mecca	Saudi Arabia	2009-05-01 May 1, 2009	0	Occurred during construction
Rabobank Bestuurscentrum	105 m	Utrecht	Netherlands	2010-06-27 June 27, 2010	0	Occurred on the 25th and 26th floor during the construction. The exact cause of the fire has never been identified. [28]
Lakanal House	46.2 m	London	United Kingdom	2009-07-03 July 3, 2009	6	Lakanal House fire
Wooshin Golden Suites		Busan	South Korea	2010-09-01 September 1, 2010	0	Wooshin Golden Suites fire
Unnamed high-rise apartment block	85 m	Shanghai	China	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.[29]
EVN Headquarters Tower 1	147 m	Hanoi	Vietnam	2011-12-16 December 15, 2011	0	Fire occurred during construction, 11 workers injured.[30]
Uncompleted high rise block		Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	2012-01-18 January 18, 2012	0	[31]
Fico Place		Bangkok	Thailand	2012-03-03 March 3, 2012	0	Two firemen injured[32]
Federation Tower (East Tower)	450 m	Moscow	Russia	2012-04-2 April 2, 2012	0	Occurred while the building was under construction
Al Tayer Tower		Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	2012-04-28 April 28, 2012	0	[33]
Polat Tower Residence	138.6 m	Istanbul	Turkey	2012-07-17 July 17, 2012	0	[34]
Tamweel Tower	160 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2012-11-18 November 18, 2012	0	[35]
Oko Tower 1	354.1 m	Moscow	Russia	2013-01-25 January 25, 2013	0	Fire occurred on 24th floor during construction, one worker was injured.[36]
Torre Ejecutiva Pemex Tower	214 m	Mexico City	Mexico	2013-01-31 January 31, 2013	33	Gas explosion affecting the main building's 14 story annex Torre Ejecutiva Pemex explosion
Grozny-City Towers	150 m	Grozny	Russia	2013-04-03 April 3, 2013	0	[citation needed]
Jianye Mansion		Guangzhou	China	2013-04-03 December 15, 2013	0	[37]
The Strand		New York City	United States	2014-01-05 January 5, 2014	1	[38]
One57	410 m	New York City	United States	2015-03-14 March 15, 2014	0	Fire broke out in the loading dock, then spread to the courtyard and a neighboring property.
Lotus Park building		Mumbai	India	2014-07-18 July 18, 2014	1	[39]
Lacrosse Apartments		Melbourne	Australia	2014-11-25 November 25, 2014	0	Fire started on an 8th floor balcony and rapidly spread up the facade cladding.[40]
The Wedgwood	30 m	Castle Hills	United States	2014-12-28 December 28, 2014	5	The fire occurred on one wing of the third floor causing extensive smoke damage.[41][42]
The Marina Torch	336.8 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2015-02-21 February 21, 2015	0	At least 7 people were injured.
Wisma Kosgoro		Jakarta	Indonesia	2015-03-10 March 10, 2015	0	Fire destroyed floors 16–20.[43]
Unnamed Highrise		Baku	Azerbaijan	2015-05-19 May 19, 2015	16	See 2015 Baku residence building fire
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas	184 m	Las Vegas	United States	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.[44]
Unnamed Residential Tower		Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	2015-10-01 October 1, 2015	0	Fire burned building facade, 19 treated for smoke inhalation.[45]
John Hancock Center	457 m	Chicago	United States	2015-11-21 November 21, 2015	0	A two-alarm fire broke out on the 50th floor. Five injured.[46]
The Address Downtown Dubai	306.2 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2015-12-31 December 31, 2015	1	Occurred on New Year's Eve, 14 injured.[47]
Sulafa Tower	288 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2016-07-20 July 20, 2016	0
Plasco Building	42 m	Tehran	Iran	2017-01-19 January 19, 2017	21	The 17-story building collapsed after a fire started on the ninth floor. Seventy injured.[48]
Grenfell Tower	79.2 m	London	United Kingdom	2017-06-14 June 14, 2017	72	The 24-storey tower block fire spread from the second floor to the top of the building.[49] See Grenfell Tower fire
Pamchal Chitgar Building	66 m	Tehran	Iran	2017-06-14 June 14, 2017	0	The residential 20-storey tower - four injured
Marco Polo Apartments	118.8 m	Honolulu	United States	2017-07-14 July 14, 2017	3	Blaze started on the 26th floor of the 36-story apartments. Fire quickly spread to three more floors, making it a 5-alarm fire. This is the deadliest high-rise fire in Hawaii's history.
Rotana Hotel Building	66 m	Mashhad	Iran	2017-07-22 July 22, 2017	0	Under construction 20-storey hotel
The Marina Torch	336.8 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2017-08-04 August 4, 2017	0
Trump Tower	202 m	New York City	United States	2018-04-30 April 7, 2018	1	6 firefighters injured
Almas Tower	360 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2018-04-30 April 22, 2018	0
Trump International Hotel and Tower (Baku)	108.9 m	Baku	Azerbaijan	2018-04-30 April 28, 2018	0	Involved two separate fires the same day
Wilton Paes de Almeida Building	79.2 m	São Paulo	Brazil	2018-04-30 April 30, 2018	7–9	Building collapsed shortly after blaze
Paramis Building	69.3 m	Tehran	Iran	2018-07-22 July 22, 2018	0	21-storey residential building
Bank of Lisbon building	108 m	Johannesburg	South Africa	2018-09-06 September 6, 2018	3	Building demolished/Imploded in 24 Nov 2019
FR Tower		Dhaka	Bangladesh	2019-03-28 March 28, 2019	25	FR Tower fire
AXA Equitable Center	229.3 m	New York City	United States	2019-06-10 June 10, 2019	1	2019 New York City helicopter crash
Unnamed Highrise	47.9 m	Prešov	Slovakia	2019-12-06 December 6, 2019	8	Natural gas explosion, 40 injuries[50]
Abbco Tower		United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	2020-05-05 May 5, 2020	1	25 injuries, likely started by a discarded cigarette or shisha coals[51]
Tower block at 1158 Nerudova street	42.9 m	Czech Republic	Czech Republic	2020-08-08 August 9, 2020	11	Bohumín arson attack
Ulsan Samhwan Art Nouveau apartment building	108.9 m	South Korea	South Korea	2020-10-09 October 8, 2020	0	92 residents and 1 firefighter injured. Ulsan Samhwan Art Nouveau Fire [ko][52]
Torre dei Moro	60 m	Milan	Italy	2021-08-29 August 29, 2021	0	Fire event similar to the Grenfell Tower disaster[53]
Cheng Chung Cheng Building		Kaohsiung	Taiwan	2021-10-14 October 14, 2021	46	2021 Kaohsiung tower fire
World Trade Centre Hong Kong		Hong Kong	Hong Kong	2021-12-15 December 15, 2021	0	13 injured, over 300 trapped on roof[54]
Twin Parks North West, Site 4		New York City	United States	2022-01-09 January 9, 2022	17	2022 Bronx apartment fire
Lotus Garden China Telecom Building	218 m	Changsha, Hunan	China	September 16, 2022	0	(fire extinguished. Under investigation.)
The Centaurus	110 m	Islamabad	Pakistan	October 9, 2022	0	2022 The Centaurus Mall Fire Incident[55]
RiverCourt	108.1 m	New York City	United States	November 5, 2022	0
8 Boulevard Walk	123 m	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	November 7, 2022	0
Jixiangyuan community	~60 m (21 floors)	Ürümqi	China	November 26, 2022	11	2022 Ürümqi fire
The Kimpton	175 m	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	March 2, 2023	0	Occurred during construction
Unnamed Apartment Block		Hanoi	Vietnam	September 12, 2023	56	2023 Hanoi building fire
Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower	65.72 m	Khartoum	Sudan	September 17, 2023	Unknown	Occurred during War in Sudan (2023)
Unnamed Highrise		València	Spain	February 22, 2024	10	2024 València residential complex fire
Unnamed Highrise		Nanjing	China	February 23, 2024	15	2024 Nanjing building fire
Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall		Dhaka	Bangladesh	February 29, 2024	46	2024 Dhaka Bailey Road fire
		Tver	Russia	March 14, 2024	0	Occurred during construction
Botanik Torre Flora		Recife	Brazil	March 28, 2024	0	Occurred during construction
Grand Kartal Hotel		Bolu	Turkey	January 21, 2025	79	2025 Kartalkaya hotel fire

Gallery

• 
  Central Tower burns after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
• 
  Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911
• 
  Daeyeonggak Hotel fire in 1971
• 
  Dupont Plaza Hotel arson in 1986
• 
  Aftermath of the El Al Flight 1862 crash in 1992
• 
  Aftermath of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• 
  UNITIC Twin Skyscrapers after the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992
• 
  Executive Council Building during the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992
• 
  Ostankino Tower fire in 2000
• 
  The north face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) immediately after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175 in the September 11 attacks
• A video showing the United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and it's ensuring fire on both World Trade Center towers during the September 11 attacks
• 
  7 World Trade Center burns after the collapse of the Twin Towers
• 
  Windsor Tower after the 2005 fire
• 
  Aftermath of the 2006 New York City plane crash
• 
  Deutsche Bank Building fire in 2007
• 
  Aftermath of the Harrow Court fire in 2007
• 
  Beijing Television Cultural Center fire in 2009
• 
  Wooshin Golden Suites fire in 2010
• 
  2010 Shanghai fire
• A video showing 2010 Shanghai fire
• 
  Aftermath of the Torre Ejecutiva Pemex explosion in 2013
• 
  Fire at One57 in 2014.
• 
  Plasco Building on fire prior to collapse in 2017.
• 
  Grenfell Tower in the early morning of 14 June 2017.
• 
  Aftermath of the Bohumín arson attack in 2020.
• 
  Aftermath of gas explosion in Prešov in 2019.
• 
  Aftermath of the 2021 Kaohsiung tower fire
• 
  2022 Islamabad building fire
• 
  Aftermath of the 2024 València residential complex fire.

See also

• Skyscraper
• Tower block
• Firefighting
• Fire escape
• List of high-rise facade fires
• The Towering Inferno (film)