For the second time in less than a month, a fire blazed through a popular discount market in southern Jeddah on Tuesday. This is the third fire in six months in the same market, commonly known as Souk Al-Sawareekh (Rocket Market). The market is popular with people with lower incomes, pilgrims and people looking for discounts. It is located near the city's industrial districts, and features thousands of shops that sell everything from carpets to home appliances. According to primary investigations, the blaze started in an area of the market called Al-Muthallath (Triangle), where some 300 shops that mostly sell highly flammable merchandise are located. Many foreigners can be seen randomly using sidewalks and adjacent streets to display their goods, most of which are wooden and textile items. Around 20 firefighting regiments participated in putting out the blaze. Captain Abdullah Al-Amry, spokesman for the Jeddah Civil Defense Department, told the Saudi Gazette that firefighters were supported with 45 water tankers. “The fire spread over a 4,000-square-meter area of shops, melting the metal pillars that supported zinc roof panels,” he added. He said it took firefighters five hours to put out the fire. “The fire was so huge because of the combustible textiles and plastic materials displayed in the market,” said Amry, adding that the market had witnessed a similarly massive disaster five months ago. The Muthallath area is the smallest block in the market, which has more than 8,000 shops. The place is full of vendors who display second-hand clothes and wooden furniture in a long chain of contiguous street stalls. Eye witnesses told the Saudi Gazette that the market lacks the simplest of safety measures. “The souk is a stone's throw away from a military area and can one day cause a real disaster,” said Bakhit Mofarreh, a regular shopper. “If nothing is done about it, we might see a much bigger tragedy in this place one day.” Abdullah Al-Zahrani, another shopper, said that the popular market needs to be reorganized and shop owners forced to apply strict safety measures. “There was a fire in the market just two weeks ago,” he said. “How many more fires should there be?” He blamed the Civil Defense Department for the absence of safety measures, adding that illegals often come to the market to sell stolen goods. “The random nature of the market and the employment of hundreds of illegal workers, are, in fact, a great danger to the safety and security of the market,” he said. __
