AUTHORITIES suspended the operation of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) last Thursday due to a huge fire that struck Puregold Plaza in Pasay City, snarling traffic and leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
Southern District Fire Marshal Sofia Mendoza said flames broke out at 3 a.m. within the four-storey building located at the corner of Taft Avenue and Libertad Street.
She said they traced the blaze's origin at the ground floor where a supermarket is located.
At 3:30 p.m. reports of the blaze reached Task Force Echo. More than 20 fire trucks responded to the scene.
Fire officials said a wall of thick, black smoke had prevented firefighters from attacking the fire at its origin.
As a result, the fire slowly crawled its way from the ground floor to the upper floors.
As of Thursday noon, flames were running riot at the first floor.
Damage in property caused by the fire was estimated at P50 million.
Due to the fire, the LRT Authority (LRTA) only allowed its coaches to run from Monumento to Gil Puyat Avenue because the Taft station is very close to the burning building.
"As much as we would like to resume normal operations, we cannot do so," LRTA public information officer Jinky Jorgio said.
Jorgio was reacting to reports that commuters were stranded since they could neither ride the LRT nor any public utility vehicles (PUVs) since roads leading to and from the area had been closed off to give way to fire trucks.
A fire volunteer, Richwell de Vera, had to be carried out from Puregold by his comrades when he lost consciousness due to smoke inhalation.
He regained consciousness after being given oxygen and was later declared to be in stable condition.
Aside from de Vera, 24 other firefighters have to be administered oxygen by Red Cross volunteers inhaling the smoke.
The LRTA said revenue loss reached P761,546 after partly suspending operations of the LRT Line-1.
According to Jiorgio, they were forced to cut its trip as early as 7 a.m. due to the thick smoke coming from the burning buildings.
As of 2:30 p.m., LRT-1 had yet to resume operations.
"We have lost close to P1 million in our revenue. But we have to limit our trip from Monumento to Gil Puyat station for the safety of the passengers," she said. (AH/Sunnex)
