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Sunday, December 14, 2003
Power surge may trigger Baguio fire: BFP
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
BAGUIO -- Fire officials theorized that a sudden surge of electric current could have generated an electrical problem, causing the fire that gutted Perutz Bar, which claimed the lives of eight bar employees Thursday morning.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Arnold Olyem, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) investigator, said the power surge might have affected a "weak spot" in the bar's electrical wiring system, producing sparks that ignited the walls and the ceiling of the VIP room.
Fire Officer 2 Bernard Bravo, who conducted an ocular inspection at the fire scene, said the bar used standard no. 16 stranded wire for lighting inside the VIP room where the fire started.
However, there could have been a weak spot in the wiring, which caused the short-circuit, he said. This weak spot is almost undetectable, he added.
Sun.Star checked with the Benguet Electrical Cooperative (Beneco) regarding power trip off Thursday morning and learned that power supply was interrupted along Dagohoy Street and adjoining areas around Baguio Center Mall.
Power supply in the area was interrupted at around 8:40 a.m. of December 11 and was restored later that morning, after the leak was satisfactorily repaired. The fire in Perutz bar was reported to the fire office at around 10:22 a.m.
Meanwhile, identities of the eight fire victims were released late Saturday afternoon after they were positively identified by relatives at the La Funeraria Paz chapels.
The fatalities were identified as Marvin Callueng Paraiso, 26, manager of the MNM Group of models, who resided at No. 40 Sampaguita Street, Capitol View Subdivision, Poro Point, San Fernando City, La Union.
The others were identified as Mila Modequillo, Josie Alagos Mosquera alias Monica, 18, from Villasar, Patnongon, Antique; Maricel Soria Gajudo alias Honey/Kathy, 26, from No. 290 Camarin Road, Caloocan City; Cherry Fajardo Bihasa alias Katrina, from Baler, Aurora province; Janice Florencio, 18, from Panabo, Davao del Sur; and Liezel Tejada, 20, from Basista, Pangasinan.
"We cannot just assume that we were really given the real names of these victims (earlier) because they keep on changing their pseudonyms in almost every place that they transfer due to the nature of their work," Bravo explained in an earlier interview.
Bravo also explained that the Perutz fire cannot be compared to the Ozone Disco conflagration that shocked the nation several years ago because, aside from a temporarily obstructed fire escape, the management of the establishment "has satisfactorily complied with all the necessary provisions" of the Fire Code of the Philippines.
However, Bravo clarified that Perutz bar management is still liable to the deaths of the eight workers and should be held answerable for allowing people to sleep within their premises.
Bravo said the permit given to Perutz bar only allowed for a nightspot operation and not for dwelling purposes. "They should not have built sleeping quarters inside their establishment and allowed people to sleep in the area," he stressed.
Bravo said the main problem was finding out who should be made responsible for the lapses that led to the untimely death of the eight fire victims.
Perutz Bar was initially registered under the name of Fernando Guiang sometime in 1999, but the business operation was turned over to Joselito Agapito on December 2, 2002.
But they could not locate Agapito as of presstime because his address on the business permit application was Perutz Bar and not his residential address.
Investigators also discovered that the business operation has been turned over again to Eugene Trabajador about a month ago, but no formal transfer documents could be unearthed to prove this transaction, said Bravo.
"If only Trabajador had applied for a new permit upon assumption of management, we could have inspected the place to find out if there was an illegal sleeping quarters there and the deaths of these victims could have been prevented," Olyem explained.
It took rescuers almost two hours to retrieve the bodies of the fatalities, most of whom were in their nightclothes, when they suffocated in their sleep.
(December 13, 2003 issue)
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