Fire destroys three buildings in historic neighbourhood of Saudi Arabia

Three buildings at Jeddah's historic centre have collapsed completely in a fire that broke out on Tuesday, the Arab News says.

The fire damaged a total of six buildings in the historic area, forcing 60 people to evacuate, officials told the newspaper.

Al-Balad Mayor Sami Nawar said the affected buildings included those by the names of Al-Qumsani, Al-Ashmawi and Abdel-Aal.

Al-Balad is the historic centre of Jeddah and the primary gateway to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

More than a dozen firefighting and rescue teams from Jeddah’s General Directorate of Civil Defence battled the blaze.

Citing Nawar's comments, the newspaper reported that firefighters managed to contain around 80 percent of the blaze by 10pm.

The mayor referred to a preliminary investigation and said the fire broke out in a four-storey brick building made of mud and coral limestone drawn from the Red Sea and roofed with wood.

"The flames extended to two other buildings within the area through wooden beams at the front of the buildings. The two buildings later collapsed,” Arab News quoted Nawar as saying.

No casualties were reported.