On Saturday a huge fire engulfed the Yemeni and Kerala markets in Riyadh’s Al-Batha district. Thankfully, no one was killed but hundreds of shops were destroyed and many shopkeepers have lost livelihoods through no fault of their own. The cost is estimated in millions. The cost in human terms, however, was inestimably higher a week earlier in another fire in the capital; ten members of a family, six of them children, died in an apartment blaze.
One thing links both fires. Neither should have been so devastating. Both were destructive because of inadequate implementation of good regulations and practice. In the case of the market blaze, there are serious allegations that the Civil Defense Directorate’s response to the situation was poorly coordinated and slow, only sending in a firefighting helicopter to spray the flames 12 hours after the fire had started. Likewise, in the case of the apartment fire, reports of a short circuit in an air conditioning unit will surprise no one. Again, there are proper standards on electrical installation and maintenance but they are not enforced. Neither of these fires in Riyadh are as appalling as the 1997 conflagration at Mina which killed some 400 pilgrims or the wedding tent fire in the Eastern province in 1999 which claimed the lives of 169 women and children or the one which swept through a girls school in Makkah in 2002 killing 15 girls or the prison fire in 2003 which killed over 60 young inmates. But fire is still far too regular an occurrence in the Kingdom. Hardly a month goes by without a serious fire and the unacceptable fact is that, even after all the earlier disasters, the danger is not taken seriously enough by those in authority.
Jeddah’s historic Balad district has been described as a tinderbox waiting to explode because of tons of flammable goods stored in illegal warehouses and the wanton disregard of fire-safety regulations by tenants and owners alike. The warehouses of course stand on land worth millions — providing it is cleared of historic buildings. In the past few years 65 historic buildings have been destroyed by fire. Nothing has been done to reduce the danger.
Last year a fire at the oil refinery at Ras Tanura in Eastern Province resulted in one fatality; it could have been much worse but thankfully, the fire was brought under control in an hour. In 2004 a fire broke out at a gas plant in Jubail; it too could have been disastrous but was also quickly contained. In both cases, the fire fighters were Saudi Aramco personnel. Is this another instance where Saudi Aramco’s operating standards are much higher? We cannot know, but the suspicion will not go away.
In the case of these latest fires in Riyadh, it is not enough to find out whose shoddy workmanship may have caused sparks to result in an inferno though that needs to be done. What also needs to be discovered and rectified is whether anyone in authority was supposed to inspect the premises or license the electricians and others responsible for installing equipment there. If so, did they do their jobs?
These are questions for the relevant authorities to answer.
