Pasay fire still rages after 48 hours

Fire officials reported yesterday that the fire still rages at the Baclaran Terminal Plaza Mall near the Light Rail Transit station in Pasay City, more than 48 hours after the blaze started.

The fire started at around 7:45 p.m. last Sunday and had already destroyed an estimated P20 million worth of property but no one was reported injured in the incident.

Pasay City Fire Marshall Senior Inspector Juanito Maslang said the fire trucks are running out of water and the firefighters were ordered to get water from a nearby fire hydrant located at the corner of Taft Avenue and EDSA.

“If a fire-out will not be declared yet, it is possible that we might be able to consume all the water stored in the fire trucks that are on standby here. It would be best to immediately come up with a contingency measure so that we will not experience water shortage and prevent the fire from spreading,” Maslang explained.

At least 20 fire trucks were still assigned in the area to put out the blaze.

Maslang said firemen have a hard time entering the building because of the thick smoke caused by burning materials inside the shopping mall.

Stall owners who want to salvage their merchandise, were prevented from entering the burning mall, owned by Mariano Nocom.

Maslang said the cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Meanwhile, the LRT Baclaran Terminal remained closed yesterday because of thick smoke and foul smell coming from a burning building, which is adjacent to the train station.

More than 29,000 passengers were stranded last Monday after train operations at the Baclaran Station were suspended due to the fire. Revenue losses from the suspension of train operations from the Baclaran Station to EDSA and Libertad stations could reach more than P400,000 last Monday.

Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) Line 1 officer-in-charge for operations Felix Layson said train operations at Baclaran Station remained suspended yesterday.

This was the fourt fire to break out near LRT stations this year.

Another fire at the Good Earth Plaza suspended operations at the LRT Station in Carriedo street in Sta. Cruz Manila last week. 

A fire gutted the Puregold Plaza shopping mall near the Libertad Station along Taft Avenue in Pasay City last month.

Last January, a fire gutted the Galleria Baclaran shopping mall which was also near the Baclaran Station.

Layson said the suspension of train operations during the past fires near LRT stations have caused revenue losses worth more than P6 million.    – With Michael Punongbayan