Caloocan mall fire enters 3rd day

MANILA, Philippines - Firefighters have yet to put out the blaze that broke out at the Ever Gotesco Grand Central mall Friday night, an official said yesterday.

Senior Fire Officer 2 Rowell Paul Dacanay said that as of 3 p.m. yesterday, there are still pockets of flames in different areas of the building and occasional explosions as the blaze reached its third day.

 “There were restaurants in the mall and maybe the blasts were caused by the gas tanks that exploded due to intense heat,” Dacanay told The STAR.

SFO4 Randy Resurreccion, the city’s arson, intelligence and investigation chief, said the fire may go beyond the 52-hour mark set when the mall burned down in 1991. He said the fire has eaten up nearly 95 percent of the four-story shopping complex.

He said while the damage caused by the 1991 fire reached more than P500 million, this time the damage could be over P1 billion.

Dacanay said most of the local fire trucks have already malfunctioned because “these are old fire engines.”

He said Caloocan City fire chief Superintendent Oscar de Asis requested assistance from neighboring cities’ fire stations and volunteer fire brigades.

“The fire status remains under control but no fire out yet almost three days since it started at around 10:45 p.m. Friday,” Dacanay said.

He said Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo and Mayor Enrico Echiverri inspected yesterday morning the fire scene “to assess the situation on what prolonged the firefighting operation.”

City public safety and traffic management chief Al Sta. Maria said the DILG and personnel from the national Bureau of Fire Protection office took over the investigation of the Gotesco blaze from the local BFP.

“But nothing much has been accomplished and no official report yet available as to what really caused the blaze, whether it was deliberately done or not, for arson investigators could not penetrate the still burning edifice,” Sta. Maria said.

Robredo and the city government ordered Sunday a thorough investigation of the incident.

Echiverri said that it could be a case of arson. He said city government records showed that Ever Gotesco owners owe the city P722.3 million in realty taxes over 23 years.

Chief Inspector Renato Marcial, BFP-National Capital Region public information officer, said in a television interview yesterday that they are still coordinating with the mall’s owners.

Marcial also appealed to the mall’s tenants and employees to wait until the BFP declares it safe for them to enter the building.

Resurreccion said the city government’s engineering and building officials will check the structural integrity of the building as soon as the fire is put out.