Fire hits Tabaco public market

TABACO CITY — Fire gutted the three-story Tabaco public market yesterday morning, destroying some 470 stalls and leaving some P80 million in damage, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said.

Fire Officer 2 Peter Regalado said the fire started at the center aisle of the public market at about 2:45 a.m. Arson investigators zeroed in their probe on Ellen’s Carenderia where the fire could have started.

"This is the fifth fire since the public market was constructed in 1969," said Regalado, adding that several minor fires had occurred but didn’t cause much damage.

The fire officer said that the third and second floors were totally damaged but only about five percent of the stalls in the ground floor were damaged.

Firefighters from as far as Daraga, Legazpi City, Ligao, Sto. Domingo, Guinobatan as well as the Philippine Geothermal Inc. based in Tiwi town, including Filipino-Chinese volunteers, helped put out the blaze.