DUBAI // Internet City traffic was brought to a standstill as emergency services were called in to deal with a fire in Business Central Towers in Dubai on Wednesday afternoon. No casualties were reported at the office block fire, which is understood to have broken out at about 1.45pm, with the alarm raised and rapid response units arriving to the scene shortly after. Office workers were evacuated as a cordon was set up around the building, allowing fire crews to attend the blaze, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault. Civil Defence teams from stations in Al Barsha, Al Marsa and Al Shuhada doused the flames in under an hour and remained on the scene to secure the building. Colonel Rashid Khalifa Buflasa, director of fire and rescue department, said: “The fire was due to an electrical short circuit on the 9th floor of the tower. It was a minor fire and no injuries were reported.” Linda Brahmi, who works on the seventh floor of Central Tower A, said two of her colleagues informed her and her coworkers about the fire after going down to smoke a cigarette. “They told us that there was a fire on the ninth floor, but we thought it was a joke because the fire alarms did not sound off. We rushed to the other offices on our floor and told people to exit the building,” she said. “No one on or floor knew that there was a fire until we informed them.” The staircase was filled with heavy smoke, the 39-year-old French lawyer said. On the ground floor, she said, she saw people getting on the elevator and stopped them. “We told them that there was fire on the ninth floor, and they shouldn’t go up, before exiting the building,” They waited outside until the fire was extinguished by civil defence and were allowed to re-enter the building at 4pm, she said. newsdesk@thenational.ae