Civil Defense officials have uncovered serious fire-safety violations at a shop which was gutted in a fire Saturday. The fire destroyed all the merchandise in the 4,800 sq. meter shop. The Civil Defense had to divert water tanker trucks from Al-Ain Al-Aziziya to northern Jeddah to help extinguish the blaze. Civil Defense officials found that the shop did not have functioning fire extinguishers and parking space for fire engines and other firefighting vehicles and machinery. The parking space was converted to warehouses for readymade clothes, perfumes, accessories, sundry items and small furnishings. This led to the entire store being gutted by the inferno despite the fact that firefighting and rescue teams arrived quickly at the scene. The Civil Defense Operations Room received a report stating that a fire had broken out at a shopping center on Hera Street. A total of 12 specialist teams were sent to the location. Civil Defense officials evacuated the residents of two buildings and surrounded the burning shopping center with a ring of water to prevent the fire from spreading to other shops. The electricity company also cut off the power supply from the street until the teams could douse the flames. Eyewitnesses said they were surprised by flames and smoke billowing from the shopping center at 6 A.M. Saturday. They said the workers of the store tried to douse the fire but the manual fire extinguishers were not working. Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi, Director of Civil Defense in Jeddah, and Brig. Gen. Abdullah Al-Jiddawi, head of the Operations Section, were seen at the scene while the field teams were dealing with the situation. A Civil Defense spokesman said the causes of the fire have not yet been determined. The firefighting teams are continuing to cool the location. The spokesman praised the performance and cooperation of all the security sectors in controlling the situation.
