Fire hits cotton, garments factories

A cotton factory in Las Piñas City and a garments factory in Caloocan City were razed by fire over the weekend, destroying an estimated P14 million worth of property over the weekend.

It took more than 15 firetrucks 10 hours to completely put out the fire that gutted the cotton factory in Las Piñas City. Some P10 million worth of properties were destroyed by the fire. On Saturday night, an estimated P4 million worth of property also went up in smoke when a nine-hour fire hit a garments factory in Caloocan City.

Senior Fire Officer 3 Noel Consignado, arson investigator, said the 400-square meter Hawaiian Sun Cotton, owned by Willy Chua and located at Jose Compound in Barangay Casimiro, was totally destroyed.

The blaze started at 1:41 a.m. and reached the fifth alarm by 2:19 a.m. It was only at around 11:50 a.m. when the fire was declared out.

"It was filled with raw materials and finished products, all of which were combustible materials," Consignado said, adding that the though the building was only three years old, it was made of wood and galvanized iron sheets. Only the perimeter wall was made of concrete.

Initial investigation showed that the building’s three stay-in workers woke up in the early morning hours and saw fire coming from the production area. They tried to put it out using fire extinguishers but were unable to stop the fire from spreading.

Meanwhile, the two-story building along Dagat-Dagatan Avenue in Kaunlaran Village in Caloocan City housing the Raj-eesam Garments Factory, owned by a trader identified as Eugene Kay, was also totally damaged.

Fire prober Senior Fire Officer 1 Elmer Ababa said that the blaze started at the second floor of the garments plant at around 9:10 p.m. The fire caught stockpiled easily cumbustible textiles and spread quickly to the whole structure.

At least 15 firetrucks from the city‘s fire bureau and adjacent localities were able to put the conflagration under control at around 12:32 a.m. It reached the fifth alarm but was contained within the factory’s compound as the plant was enclosed by a concrete firewall. The blaze was declared out at around 5:50 a.m.

Aside from tons of fabric, also destroyed were several machines used in the factory’s operation.

At around 12 noon yesterday, thick smoke still emanated from the building. Ababa said no casualty was reported from the blaze.