SFO2 Peter Caburnay (leftmost) and Cebu City Market Authority Head Irvin Cabales (second from left) discuss the wirings in the Carbon Market following an inspection. | Photo Courtesy of CDRRMO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Cebu City will be inspecting the wirings of all stalls in the Carbon Market for possible fire hazards.
This was the result of their initial inspection of the Carbon Market Unit III on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, where the BFP found out that the wires in the buildings were too old and needed an overhaul.
SFO2 Peter Caburnay, a Cebu City fire investigator, said that they would ideally recommend a total rewiring of the building, but because of the plans to develop the Carbon Market in the near future, it may no longer be the best course of action.
“Usbon man daw ni puhon, so ato nalang icheck ang mga stalls. (They would develop this soon so we will just check the stalls),” said Caburnay.
Market Authority Head Irvin Cabales told CDN Digital that the problem of wires as the cause of fire in the market is a long withstanding problem.
However, since two companies are vying for its development, it would be impractical to spend millions on the rewiring.
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The only thing the Market Operations Divison (MOD) can do would be to mitigate the risk of fire by ensuring that the stalls are well wired and that any fire hazard will be removed.
“For now, mao lang sa na atong buhaton kay dili ta ganahan nga dako kaayo tag gasto unya usbon ra pud baya gihapon. (For now, that is what we will do because we don’t want to spend much then later the building will be rebuilt),” said Cabales.
The inspection came after a fire destroyed three stalls and damaged three others a week ago on November 3, 2020. The fire allegedly was caused by faulty wiring.
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Cabales said they had to discuss the measures to keep the market fire-proof because these small incidents may one day lead to another big fire like what happened in 2018 when Unit III burned and the MOD lost its office and vendors lost their stalls. /rcg