Abdulrahman Al-Ali

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – Thursday’s fire at the desalination plant in Jeddah was a minor one and it has not affected the functioning of any one of the 10 water production units, according to a senior official.



Dr. Abdulrahman Bin Muhammad Al-Ibrahim, Governor of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), said that the fire affected only a portion of the plant’s electricity power generation unit.



A panel of experts has started investigation into the causes of fire. Officials from a number of government bodies as well as from criminal investigation department, besides fire specialists, and explosive experts visited the plant and started inspections.



A turbine explosion at SWCC’s plant number 4 caused the fire on Thursday evening that resulted in a sudden stoppage of a generator leading to gas leakage from it. No causalities were reported in the fire.



“The plant stopped operations at the time of fire and it restored operations within less than six hours. Basically, we are producing water and we consume electricity that was produced in the process and the rest we give to the Saudi Electricity Company,” he said.



Accompanied by senior officials, SWCC chief made an inspection tour of the plant, including control and monitoring room.



During the tour, Eng. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, Deputy Governor of SWCC for Operation and Maintenance, told reporters that the plant consists of four phases, and each phase houses a number of equipment. “The fire hit one of the equipment at the 4th phase that comprised of five parts for electricity generation. Only 20 percent of the plant was burned, and the 4th phase, which started operations in 1982, is operating with its full capacity.”

Al-Ghamdi denied reports about evacuation of families of employees living in the neighborhood.