A second suspicious fire to break out in a matter of weeks at an intermediate girls school in Jeddah's Al-Kandarah District is being treated as suspected arson by the police. Although the fire was extinguished immediately and no one was hurt, the Civil Defense has called for a police investigation into the matter. Abdullah Al-Jiddawi, Director of Jeddah's Civil Defense, said the fire was the second to break out in the school without any obvious cause and that this was a strong indication that it was the result of a criminal act. The Civil Defense has turned the matter over to the police because these suspicious fires must be taken seriously as they pose a danger to the lives of teachers and pupils, he added. The fire in the Al-Kandarah Intermediate School broke out in the morning before classes began when flames engulfed wooden tables in a third-floor classroom. The girls were evacuated, said Captain Abdullah Al-Amri, spokesman for the Civil Defense in Makkah. Al-Amri said the initial examination showed the cause of the flames was not electrical and he suspects that the fire was started intentionally. The first fire in the school broke out in the teachers' room when a sponge mattress went up in flames for no obvious reason. Civil Defense authorities suspected that the fire was the work of an arsonist as the team dispatched to the scene found no electrical source near the fire and no signs of petroleum.
