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Thursday, December 28, 2006
Ormoc probers tag 2 major violations
By Oscar C. Pineda
ORMOC CITY -- Fire department officials observed two violations that could have prevented the fire that killed 26 in an Ormoc City store on Christmas Day.
President Arroyo at the same time ordered local authorities to clamp down on illegal firecracker sales after a blaze killed 26 people in Ormoc City on Christmas Day.
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Fire investigators are also checking reports that an eight-year-old boy accidentally started the fire with a toy gun.
Ormoc City Fire Marshal Mauro Almo Costa said their initial investigation revealed that Unitop General Merchandising had no permit to sell firecrackers and its fire exit at the back was padlocked.
Also Wednesday, the bodies of three Cebuanos who died in the Unitop fire were sent back to their hometown in Camotes.
V. Rama Funeral Parlor owner Vincent Rama said the coffins of Panyong Langres, Cecilia Dalagit and Servilliana Cartagena were loaded at 9:30 a.m. aboard a commercial pumpboat for Camotes Island.
The fire that hit Unitop last Christmas Day ended 26 lives, including those of two infants.
Costa said the fire started near the store's front entrance, where an unidentified boy bought "double-action" bullets for his toy gun.
"He was testing the bullets and aimed at the firecrackers (near the front entrance)," said Costa.
When the boy hit the firecracker display, sparks flew.
At first, survivor Glen Igot, 44, thought the sparks would die down, but he saw flames instead.
Costa said they are still tracing the boy's whereabouts, but so far no witnesses have come forward to identify the child. It's not even certain he survived.
Checking on the debris after the fire, Costa found fountains among the burned heaps, which confirmed their information that Unitop sold firecrackers.
Until the fire, they did not know the store sold firecrackers too, he said.
A team led by Senior Fire Officer 2 Bernardo Corpin inspected the downtown area last Dec. 24 and confiscated firecrackers sold without permits. But inspectors did not find any firecrackers inside Unitop at that time, Costa said.
He also showed Sun.Star the fire exit's iron grill gate in their possession, about five by six feet, pulled from the concrete wall where it was attached. Its padlock was still intact.
The rectangular building's sides and back were surrounded by a firewall and the high walls of its neighbors. Its front faced the city's main commercial road.
Firemen forced open the lower portion of the fire exit's outer gate by folding it up, to create an opening.
But once inside, they were stopped by another gate, the one now in the fire department's custody.
Costa said when they yanked the second gate off, five survivors inside rushed out. One of them later died in the hospital.
"Fire exits should never be locked as long as there are people inside," he said.
Upon realizing that the only fire exit was closed during the blaze, most of the victims scrambled to the comfort room, about three by eight meters, which stood opposite the fire exit.
Some managed to clamber up to the nine-foot-high ceiling and exit through a hole. This led them out to the roof, from where they managed to escape through the neighboring buildings.
But others failed to reach the ceiling. Most of the bodies were found in the comfort room.
Apart from the fire department, the National Bureau of Investigation, based in Tacloban City, is also conducting its own investigation on the tragedy.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said the President was deeply saddened by the deaths, including two babies, in the fire that razed the Unitop General Merchandising Store in Ormoc City.
The President was "saddened" by the fire, her press spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
"This is a wake-up call for more vigilance against the yearly rise of firecracker-related incidents," Bunye said.
Arroyo ordered the police and the Health Department "to strictly implement the laws governing the manufacture and sale of firecrackers to the public," he said. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (December 28, 2006 issue)
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