Fire razes paint factory in Valenzuela

A fire of still undetermined causes hit a paint factory and damaged property valued at around P18 million yesterday in Valenzuela City.

Senior Inspector Enrico Caco, chief arson investigator, identified the establishment as Bolton Industries on Que Grande street in Barangay Ugong and registered to Ronaldo Lim Sin.

FO2 Victor Infante III of the Valenzuela City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Tactical Operations Center, said no one was reported injured in the blaze that began at the right portion of one of several warehouses in a compound at around 6 a.m. yesterday. The officer said the cause of the blaze is yet to be determined.

Arson probers said the warehouse contained mostly chemicals, volatile and flammable, used in the manufacture of various paints.

Over 50 fire trucks, mostly from volunteer fire units in Metro Manila, responded to the fire which reached the fifth alarm.

“The fire was already threatening houses at the factory’s surroundings but our firemen put up a good fight using a special fire-extinguishing chemical aqueous film forming foam or AFFF,” Superintendent Agapito Nacario, Valenzuela City BFP chief, told The STAR.

He said that the blaze started at around 6:14 a.m. inside the stockroom of the factory’s warehouse and quickly spread inside the whole building that contained highly combustible substances.

Using AFFF, firefighters were able to put off the raging fire, which reached third alarm, some one hour and 20 minutes later.

“The fire started with no workers yet inside, so we are still in the process of determining what triggered it,” Nacario said.

The Valenzuela City BFP arson investigators were still conducting their investigation yesterday to ascertain what caused the blaze and whether somebody could be held liable for the incident.  – With Pete Laude