JEDDAH, 1 January 2008 — The possibly toxic fumes produced by a fire at the garbage dump close to the Ring Road in East Jeddah forced the principal of a school in the neighborhood to cancel yesterday’s morning assembly. Recurring fires in the dump have exacerbated the misery of the residents of the area.
Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, director of Jeddah Civil Defense, told Arab News yesterday that four units of fire fighters were sent to the dump after receiving a call from the school. Ghamdi did not, however, rule out that illegal immigrants had slipped into the area and caused a fire unnoticed by guards. The people who sift through the rubbish often start fires in order to separate copper, iron and other metals from waste. The Jeddah mayor has recently posted several guards to protect the area from these people. “The firefighters found it very hard to reach the exact location of fire because of poor approach roads,” Ghamdi said.
Meanwhile, more than 300 citizens gathered in front of the local Civil Defense office demanding the authorities take immediate steps to stop the fires that cause serious pollution in the area and various infections to local residents.
It was reported earlier that Jeddah Mayor Adel Fakieh had signed a contract to move the dump to another location away from residential areas. The new dump will be constructed in line with the latest international standards and will not cause a minimum of pollution, the report said. The new SR30 million facility covering over 4.5 million square meters will be 25 kilometers away from the Briman bridge, east of the Ring Road.
