Plastics factory burns down in Valenzuela

A four-hour fire of still unknown origin broke out at a plastic chair and flower basket factory in Valenzuela City before dawn yesterday, destroying some P10 million worth of equipment and products.

Fire Officer 1 Victor Infante, radio operator of the Valenzuela City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), said the Oliware Enterprises on Donesa Street in Barangay Canumay West was razed to the ground.

Infante said that at around 4:30 a.m., the Valenzuela City BFP office was informed of the ongoing fire at Oliware, which manufactures plastic chairs and flower baskets.

Valenzuela firefighters and volunteer firemen from adjacent cities, with 25 fire trucks between them, took more than three hours to control the blaze. They were able to contain the blaze within the factory’s compound, which was enclosed in a concrete firewall, Infante said.

The fire reached fifth alarm before firemen declared it out at about 8:58 a.m. Infante said that nobody was reported hurt in the incident.

“Our arson investigators are still in the area conducting their probe to determine the cause of the fire but nobody was reported hurt,” Infante said.

The factory, he added, is owned by Chinese-Filipino businessman Sonny Yao.