Friday, July 13, 2007 P5.5M in properties destroyed in dawn fire inside mall
AN estimated P5.5 million worth of properties ranging from footwear to cellular phone accessories were burned and damaged when a fire hit two shops inside the Ayala Center Cebu at dawn yesterday.
The Cebu City Fire Department identified the Olympic Village and Audionet Access Telecom as those that were burned when the fire hit the mall’s second floor.
Ver dela Cerna, head of corporate communications and customer affairs division of Cebu Holdings Inc., said “the incident was confined within a small portion of one of the mall’s outlets, Olympic Village, and was put under control by Ayala Center Cebu’s fire brigade with the assistance of the Mabolo Fire Department.”
Ayala Center Cebu will be open today on regular mall hours, he said in a press statement.
Initial investigation conducted by SFO1 Alikasem Espinola showed that the fire started at the Olympic Village, which sells outdoor and athletic gear.
The fire spread to the adjacent shop, Audionet, and partially damaged the cellular phone outlet.
Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fire.
The fire department received the call for assistance from mall security guard Ian Colinares at 3:42 a.m.
It only took five minutes for the firefighters to put out the fire, which was placed under first alarm.
FO2 Romeo Birao Jr. suffered a cut on his right thumb while controlling the fire. (JST)
