The fire consumed several mechanical workshops, spare part and aluminum stores, furniture shops and tires and oil-change shops in an area known to lack safety measures.

A huge fire broke out in a neighborhood full of workshops in Jubail on Monday, gutting scores of car-related maintenances stores.

The fire consumed several mechanical workshops, spare part and aluminum stores, furniture shops and tires and oil-change shops, in addition to industrial, health and electronics stores in an area known to lack safety measures.

The blaze spread out from shop to shop, causing huge property losses.

The fire almost consumed a nearby ATM machine before Civil Defense and firefighting teams reported to the scene, dousing the fire before it engulfed the machine.

“The fire broke out at 1:50 p.m. on Monday in the Al-Arifi neighborhood and industrial area,” said Col. Mansour Al-Dosari, Civil Defense media spokesman.

“Four firefighting teams and members of the Jubail Volunteer Club helped put out the fire,” he said.

“There are no injuries and investigation is ongoing to determine whether this was a case of arson or the mere result of lack of fireproof measures,” he said.

This is the second such incident less than 10 days after a huge fire engulfed a commercial building, a restaurant and several shops in downtown Jubail last week.

This area is known for repeated fire-related accidents thanks to lack of firefighting tools despite being adjacent to an area full of huge petrochemical plants, considered the largest in the world in terms of production capacities.

Around 70 million metric tons of various petrochemical products, fertilizers, iron and steel are produced onsite every year.

 
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