5 Hurt in Jeddah school fire

A woman teacher suffered slight burns while four girl students inhaled smoke as a result of a fire that gutted a government secondary school in Jeddah yesterday. Lt. Col. Saeed Sarhan, spokesman for the Civil Defense in Makkah province, said his department has launched a probe into the school fire. “We received a call from a teacher at the 50th Secondary School in Al-Naeem District informing us about the fire,” Sarhan said, adding that 10 fire-fighting and rescue units took part in the operation to contain the fire. “We had kept all support units on standby just in case their services were required,” the spokesman said. The teaching staff had evacuated girls before the arrival of the Civil Defense units. The fire destroyed the electricity room in the school as well as some books and school materials. He said three students who inhaled smoke were given first aid by Red Crescent volunteers at the school while the fourth one was taken to King Fahd Hospital as she was asthmatic. On Wednesday, a fire broke out at Secondary School No. 61. More than 440 girl students were evacuated from the school and no one was injured. The fire was caused by an electric short circuit, according to police.