Firemen extinguishing the inferno.

MAKKAH – Four Civil Defense units, backed up by two rescue teams, battled for several hours a fire that ripped through a cluster of makeshift houses built on an empty plot in Al-Mansour Street in Makkah Thursday night.

The area was not easily accessible and the firefighters had to use hoses extending more than 400 meters to reach the burning houses.

The ramshackle houses were built using corrugated iron sheets and highly inflammable materials, such as wooden planks, leading the fire to spread quickly to two apartment buildings overlooking the plot.

Spokesman for the Civil Defense in Makkah Lt. Col. Saleh Al-Olayyani said residents of neighboring buildings were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

No casualties were reported, he said, adding that investigations are under way to determine the cause of the fire and to assess the damage.

 
[wpResize]