A fire has broken out at a 35-storey high-rise in downtown Dubai near the world’s tallest building, racing up the side of the structure in the same way seen in other blazes fuelled by flammable siding material.

A resident at the 8 Boulevard Walk told the Associated Press that the high-rise has cladding that officials planned to replace after a similar blaze tore through an iconic tower on New Year’s Eve in 2015.

However that cladding was not replaced across the entire building, the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said.

Emaar Properties, the giant state-backed developer behind 8 Boulevard Walk and the nearby Burj Khalifa, which towers over the burned high-rise, did not respond to requests for comment about the building’s cladding.

Nor did the city-state’s Dubai Media Office.

Dubai Civil Defence later said that the building had been safely evacuated without injuries.

Fire investigators could be seen by an AP journalist at the site, looking through balconies and pointing out damage from the blaze.

A letter sent by Emaar to tenants of the building said “a thorough investigation is underway” into the blaze and that residents only can be let back in after authorities give the all clear.

The fire raced up one side of the building while other sides appeared untouched.

The damage appeared particularly intense around the fourth floor.

The blaze started about 2.30am, with housekeepers and building guards racing through its floors to check apartments on each floor, the resident said.

Dubai Civil Defence said it “arrived at the scene five minutes after the operations room was alerted of the fire at 3.11am”.

While some types of cladding can be made with fire-resistant material, experts say those that have caught fire in Dubai and elsewhere were not designed to meet stricter safety standards and often were put onto buildings without any breaks to slow or halt a possible blaze.

That includes the 2017 Grenfell Fire in London that killed 72 people.