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Friday, May 16, 2003
Urdaneta fire's cause unknown yet
URDANETA CITY -- The city fire marshal brushed aside a report by the Bureau of Fire Prevention (BFP), which declared that the noontime fire that razed more than half the public market last May 7 was due to faulty electrical wiring.
"I did not make any formal announcement," said Senior Insp. Ernesto Gandia, city fire marshal.
Gandia made the denial in the midst of the report that the city police found a probable case of arson as the cause the conflagration that incurred damages of up to P80 million.
Both the police and the BFP are still conducting further investigation.
But the fire marshal said that P80-million is the initial estimate as the BFP investigators are still gathering data from the affected stallholders.
The fire started from the stall of Teofilo Lacambra, a tailoring shop at the northern side of the market where dry goods stalls were also situated.
Gandia said there were some other vendors and stallholders who noticed the thick smoke coming from the tailoring shop that they forced the closed stall open.
Supt. Raul Petrasanta, city police chief, also earlier made this disclosure, adding that the stall's door was opened, the fire contained inside burst out, deterring the responding vendors from using the fire extinguishers they carried.
Petrasanta also said that the fire could have been due to faulty electrical wiring since the power went on and off prior to the blaze.
Gandia said there could be another cause of the fire but we cannot rule out the possibility of faulty electrical wiring as the cause of the blaze.
Asked if the stallholders are obliged to buy fire extinguishers, he said the gadget is secondary requirement, except for stalls operating as canteens and eateries.
Pointing out that there are some stalls that are considered low hazard, the fire marshal said what they are after have been the electrical connections at the public market.
"When we notice some dangling wires, we make a recommendation for the rehabilitation of their connections," he said. FPM
(May 16, 2003 issue)
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