Firefighters train their hoses to the burning warehouses, apartments in Looc, Mandaue City. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Thick black smoke and the smell of burned combustible materials made it difficult to breathe a day after Friday’s fire hit an interior part of barangay Looc, Mandaue City.
By noon, Mandaue City firefighters were still clearing the area of debris and putting out remnants of the fire on Juan Ceniza Street.
The difficulty stemmed from stocks of plastic products like hangers, spray paint and hardware tools in the warehouse of B.G. Dionisio Marketing, said Mandaue City Fire Marshal Joel Abarquez.
“There are a lot of stocks under the debris. That’s the reason it’s difficult to put out the fire,” he said in Cebuano. A bulldzozer may have to be used to completely remove the burned stocks.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, he said.
“We are inviting the owner, Dionisio Chua, to appear for investigation to shed light on the incident,” he told CDN.
According to Abarquez, Chua returned to Cebu from from Surigao to check on his establishment, but hasn’t met with authorities yet.
Butane canisters explode and rain on firefighters and kibitzers. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Butane Explosion
Some workers of B.G. Dionisio Marketing, in an interview, denied that stocks of butane fuel were in the warehouse.
But Senior Insp. Abarquez confirmed that firemen found bottles of butane during clearing operations yesterday morning.
Bottles were heard exploding like rockets at the height of the fire.
Property damage was estimated at P1 million by the Mandaue city fire department.
The fire destroyed the B.G. Dionisio Marketing Warehouse and a two-story apartment. It damaged two houses and other establishments.
At least 19 households or 50 individuals were affected by the Mandaue fire, according to the City Social Welfare Services office as of 9 p.m. Friday.
These included occupants of the two razed apartments.
The apartment owners helped their renters to look for temporary shelter.