Fire damages historic building in Jeddah

A huge fire gutted the third floor of a 200-year-old building at the Al-Yamani Quarter in Jeddah's historic district this week.
The edifice belongs to the Maatouq Ashmawi family and carries a third-degree classification among the city's historic buildings. No one was injured in the fire.
The historic area of Jeddah is considered to have unique architecture, only seen in the Mediterranean zone and the Arabian Peninsula. The city now has the only such buildings left after the disappearance of identical historic quarters in cities such as Suisse and Al-Qasseer in Egypt and Sawakin in Sudan.
Spokesman of the Makkah Civil Defense, Col. Saeed Serhan, said in a statement that a report was received at 3:28 p.m. of the fire. Eight firefighting and four rescue teams were sent to the accident site and stopped the fire from spreading to the building's other floors.
Residents of the nearby buildings were moved to safe areas, he added. The Civil Defense and police are investigating the incident.
“A large part of the third floor collapsed during the firefighting operations because the walls were weakened by the fire,” Serhan said.
Police cordoned off the building and surrounding areas to keep curious onlookers and passersby away, he added.
In March, another fire destroyed the first floor of a four-story building in the historic district.
Fire has been one of the major threats to the historic zone in Jeddah, according to heritage lovers. President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Prince Sultan bin Salman, said previously that Jeddah has lost more than 200 historic buildings, since the adoption of the area as a national heritage site in 1980.
Experts believe only 375 buildings now remain of about 1,000 that existed 25 years ago. Jeddah Municipality has implemented a special project to combat fires in the area.