The Civil Defense says the absence of fire-resistant steel columns resulted in the collapse of the 20-year-old Alesayi Group building which was gutted in a huge fire Saturday evening. The nine-story steel-structure building, which was the headquarters of the famous Alesayi Group, was built according to construction regulations applied in the Kingdom and all over the world at that time, according to the Civil Defense. Some 1,200 people worked in the building, considered to be one of the largest commercial towers in central Jeddah. It housed about 60 companies, which included car and electrical appliances showrooms, repair and service centers and real estate agencies. Thankfully most of the offices were closed when the fire broke out. The volume of losses amounted to SR1 billion so far, according to Alesayi Group Vice President Abdul Hakeem Al-Sa'di. He said the company is now working on preparing alternative headquarters to resume work. The preparations will be completed in a few days, he added. The Alesayi Group companies, he said, are insured and the procedures to assess damages will be completed soon prior to financial estimation. The Civil Defense said investigations were still under way under the auspices of a specialized committee to ascertain the cause of the fire, in which two people suffered minor injuries. Firefighter teams concentrated on protecting adjacent buildings in the face of 35 kilometers per hour wind during the fire. Rescuers and firefighters faced huge risks and managed to evacuate 12 trapped people. There have been similar fires in the world which led to the collapse of many buildings, including the Windsor Building that caught fire and collapsed in Madrid, Spain. The Civil Defense conducts constant inspections of such buildings. Construction of buildings is not allowed until it is confirmed they can keep the structure intact during a fire for at least 10 hours. More than 12 rescue and firefighting teams and two helicopters of the Civil Defense battled the blaze for hours. The burned building collapsed five hours after it caught fire. __
