A massive fire broke out in six palm farms in Baqra village south of the city on Tuesday. The Civil Defense teams had a tough time in extinguishing the 11-hour massive fire. The fire started when one farmer “cleaned” his farm by burning some of its dry plants. The fire soon engulfed the surrounding farms, Okaz reported Firefighters headed by the city's Civil Defense Director Major Hussein Shaiban Al-Olaiyani rushed to the scene immediately after the fire was reported. Estimates said the fire destroyed palm trees spread over 12,000 sq. meters. Meanwhile, a fire completely gutted the teacher's room of Al-Madaen school in Qdaid, 120 km off Jeddah. Firefighters succeeded in containing the fire and preventing it from reaching the room where examination files were kept. According to Ahmad Al-Sahafi, Director of the Educational Supervision Center in Khulais governorate, the fire was limited to the teachers' room. He said the probable cause of the fire was short circuit. __
