Fire razes P10-M worth of goods in Taguig warehouse

MANILA, Philippines - Some P10 million worth of goods went up in smoke as a fire that lasted for more than nine hours gutted two warehouses in Western Bicutan, Taguig City on Friday night.

Taguig City Fire Department chief arson investigator Senior Inspector Vener Sevilla said the fire started around 11:20 p.m. from the office of the Baduz Marketing Incoporated located inside the Veterans Compound.

The office is located inside the mezzanine of one of the warehouses, Sevilla said. The warehouses are owned by a certain Jocelyn Yu, the Taguig Fire Department said.

Also damaged by the blaze were five delivery closed vans and three motorcycles.

The fire quickly spread to the nearby warehouse which housed candy, milk, household chemicals and diaper products.

No one was reported hurt or killed in the fire, Sevilla said.

The blaze reached Task Force Alpha and was declared out by 8:03 a.m. Saturday.

Sevilla said some 21 firetrucks from various Chinese fore volunteer brigades and 11 firetrucks from the Bureau of Fire Protection rushed to the scene.

He said firefighters had difficulty breaching into the warehouse as the closed vans blocked the entrances to the warehouse.

"We had to demolish the warehouse walls so that our firemen could get in," said Sevilla.

Sevilla added that firetrucks also made sure that the fire does not spread to the nearby warehouses that contained cardboard products and fireworks.

"Had we not done that, the fire could have been bigger," he said.

Sevilla said they are looking at the possibility that the blaze was caused by the warehouse office's faulty electrical wiring.