DAMMAM, 29 January — A huge fire at a gas station here yesterday burned 32,000 liters of gasoline and damaged property worth thousands of riyals. The Civil Defense personnel succeeded in containing the fire within 30 minutes, however, and thus averted a major disaster.
The fire broke out at 4 p.m. Within minutes, six units of fire fighters — four from Dammam and two from Alkhobar — had arrived at the scene. They successfully prevented the fire from spreading to nearby structures.
Adjacent to the petrol pump is a car warehouse, and the first task of the Civil Defense was to prevent the fire from damaging it.
The director of Civil Defense in Dammam, Saeed ibn Yahya Al-Ghamdi, said that one fire fighter had suffered burns and was rushed to King Fahd Hospital. There were no other injuries or casualties.
A fire engine was also slightly damaged by the fire. The cause of the fire has not yet been ascertained, but Civil Defense authorities speculated that a possible short circuit in a nearby transformer may have been the cause.
