Massive fire damages five EP paper and plastics stores

A fire damaged five plastic and paper stores in the first industrial city in Dammam on Thursday.
A Civil Defense officer suffered minor burns to his foot during firefighting operations. He was taken to Dammam Medical Complex for treatment. There were no fatalities.
Spokesman for the Civil Defense in the province, Col. Mansour Al-Dosari, said that the operations room in Dammam received a communication at 7:08 a.m. about the incident at the five connected stores over 5,500 square meters.
Al-Dosari said Civil Defense teams surrounded the site and brought the fire under control. “Fifteen firefighting squads participated in the operation, with the assistance of water tankers from the local directorate. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the blaze,” he said.
The Saudi Red Crescent Authority’s spokesman in the province, Fahd Al-Ghamdi, said that its teams had received a communication from the Civil Defense at 7:12 a.m., and sent three ambulances to the scene.
Muhammad Al-Qahtani, director at the General Presidency of Meteorology and Environment in the Eastern Province, said he also went to the scene. He said the cause of the fire was due to the failure of some safety measures.
There have been several fires at the first industrial city in Dammam recently, which appears to have been the result of electric short circuits, poor supervision and inspections, lack of maintenance and inadequate safety measures, according to workers in the area.
The workers called on the government to ensure that there is better monitoring of safety measures, including camera surveillance, at these stores throughout the year. They said that stores must be given special entrances to load goods if they are close to residential areas.
A neighborhood close to the industrial city has a lack of services including leaking sewers, broken sidewalks and streets, no traffic lights and poor hygiene at entrances and exits. There have also been regular and serious fires in the area.