A petroleum substance was found at the siteJEDDAH: The Civil Defense is waiting on a police report before deciding how to proceed with its investigation into the recent fire at an historic building in the city's Al-Balad District. Investigators are reportedly looking into suspicions of arson after noting that the site had no electrical fittings, the most common cause of fire at buildings of the same nature. Abdullah Jiddawi, Jeddah Civil Defense chief, said that most fires were the result of “a source of heat or electricity”, but that neither of those two factors was evident at the abandoned house.“The absence of a primary cause led to criminal investigators being brought in to help the Civil Defense in its investigation,” he said. “A petroleum substance was found at the site raising strong suspicions of arson.” He said that if a crime is confirmed, the case will be taken up by the police. “If it is decided that it was caused accidentally, the investigation will be completed by the Civil Defense,” he said. The fire last Tuesday at the Addaffa House, which led to a partial collapse of the structure, was the second incident involving historic buildings in the area in less than a week after the 150-year-old Al-Ashram House collapsed without warning. The fire spread to all the floors and the western side of the building collapsed. A mosque near to the western side was closed as a precaution. In February, a fire in the same area briefly threatened the nearby Bayt Naseef, the area's showcase building and museum. Bayt Naseef was immediately put under protection and safeguarded, but according to one official the building the fire started in and a neighboring structure were “effectively lost”.
