Thick, black smoke can be seen rising from the burning warehouse in Sitio Pilit, Barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City. The blaze was declared fire out almost 20 hours since it started.
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – An estimated P25 million worth of properties went up in smoke in the February 11 fire that gutted a warehouse used as a storage facility for paints in Sitio Pilit, Barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City.
Senior Fire Officer 2 (SFO2) Noel Codilla, fire investigator of the incident said about 2,500 square meters of floor area of the warehouse were razed by the fire.
Codilla said the cause of the fire had yet to be determined as the investigation was still ongoing, but the fire was reported to have started in the chemical section of the warehouse.
He added they already retrieved some specimens from the fire scene like electrical parts to be sent to Manila to be analyzed by fire experts to determine the cause of the fire.
Codilla added they will invite the security guard who was the only person left in the area when the fire started for questioning.
It took almost 20 hours before the firefighters put out the blaze. The fire was reported at 2:37 a.m on Thursday and was put out at 10:17 p.m of the same day.
Codilla said even if the fire was already put out, there are still tanker trucks stationed in the warehouse just in case another fire will break out.
He said one of their firefighters was injured after he fell from a roof.
“Dili gyud ingon injured gud, nalisa lang ang ankle pero wala man masamad,” said Codilla.
On Friday morning, some of the residents have already returned to their houses. Although they were not directly affected by the fire, they were advised to temporarily evacuate since firefighters considered the fumes from the burning edifice to be dangerous to health
Belinda Bihag who is from Riverside in Barangay Canduman but is a frequent visitor of the because one of her children lives there said they evacuated just to be safe.
Even if the fire was only confined to the company’s compound, authorities deemed it necessary to evacuate residents living nearby to prevent them from inhaling the fumes which could be toxic. /rcg