The Address hotel guest tells of escape from fire

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: The Address hotel guest tells of escape from fire A hotel guest has told how he fled his room in the Address after the blaze broke out on the same floor. Michael Peetes, an American tourist, said he was having a shower when alarms began sounding throughout the 63-storey building on Thursday night. The 24-year-old pizzeria worker (pictured right) said he managed to grab some cash and his passport before running down 20 flights of stairs in the smoke. He said: “I was getting ready for dinner before the New Year celebration when I heard the alarms go off out of nowhere. “I threw everything down, grabbed my phone and emergency cash and darted. “I could only carry my emergency money, which was $150, leaving $800 cash in the room.” He described the scene in the hotel corridor, saying “it was nothing but chaos in the halls.” RELATED: The Address fire coverage Peetes said it took about 15 minutes to run down the stairs to reach the ground. He said: “Everyone was scrambling down the staircase. The smoke was not that bad but enough to tell there was a fire.” Once outside Peetes said a bystander called Habib offered him his phone to make an international call to his family. He said: “The man who let me borrow his phone invited me to stay at his place, where I eventually bunked.” Peetes said he was bowled over at the generosity shown by the people of Dubai. Although he had somewhere to stay, he said he was impressed by the numerous offers that residents have made using the Twitter #needanaddress hashtag, which was set up to help hotel guests and residents of the 600 Address residential apartments. Peetes said: “He helped me buy a toothbrush, paste, deodorant before letting me stay with him, in his apartment. I was alone on vacation for the spectacular New Year celebration and through all the pain of losing money and clothes, the fireworks and ringing in the New Year did cheer me up. “It took me six years to save up to come to Dubai and I would love to come back as it will remain my number one vacation spot.” British expat Daniel Evans, 29, a sales manager for a firm in Dubai, set up the #needanaddress hashtag with two friends out of a keenness to help. He said there had already been 5,500 tweets from people offering shelter between 9.30pm and midnight on Thursday. He said: “The Open Doors hashtag during the Paris attacks was the inspiration but I had no idea it would get that big. “I’ve seen at least three examples of people getting shelter through Twitter in the past two days, but I lost their twitter handles as it go so big. “Whilst the evening was sad for Dubai, the community’s usage of the hashtag was incredibly inspirational. “I think it was a great advert for Dubai society – yes, something bad happened but the community showed how well it deals with adversity.” Mohammed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, which owns the Address, thanked emergency service personnel, staff and other hotel groups taking in guests, saying it is a “true testament to how Dubai operates as ‘one team.’ mahak@7days.ae Read the original story at: The Address hotel guest tells of escape from fire