Fire guts apartment one day after man moves in

JEDDAH, 16 August — A fire gutted an apartment on the fifth floor of a building on Jeddah’s Tahlia Street on Tuesday. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A Saudi resident caught on the sixth floor by the fire was eventually rescued by civil defense officers.

Col. Ali Al-Aqeely, director of the civil defense in Jeddah, told Arab News that the fire was extinguished by his officers before it could spread to the sixth floor.

He added that an investigation was under way to find out the cause of the fire. “We have told owners and residents of buildings to take precautionary measures against such fires,” he said.

Brig. Abdullah Al-Jaeed, who took part in the fire-fighting operation, said the fire broke out from a guest room in which the apartment’s owner had kept furniture and kitchen materials.

Other residents in the building, however, complained that there was a long delay before fire-fighters arrived on the scene, although its location was close to the civil defense office.

Nasir Al-Dahlan, a Saudi who lives in the building, said there was neither a safety system nor an emergency exit. The door leading to the roof remained permanently locked.

“One person was held up in the flat because he was unable to make his way to the roof because the exit was locked,” he suggested

Informed sources said the tenant of the gutted apartment had moved into the apartment only one day before the fire broke out, and now all his belongings have been destroyed.