|
Fire at the Baclaran Terminal Plaza that started Sunday has yet to be declared out, even as the losses of the Light Rail Transit Authority on Line 1 continues to mount, exceeding the P4-million mark.
Chief Insp. Junito Maslang, Pasay City fire department head, said flames broke out at Pasillo C on the second floor of the 1,200 square meter mall on Taft Avenue Extension just beside the LRT Baclaran station.
LRTA spokesman Ma. Kristina Cassion said in a statement that the agency’s operations and safety offices have decided operations would be on the Monumento-Edsa segment only pending a declaration of “Fire Out” by authorities.
FO3 Renato Recto blamed extreme heat and zero visibility inside the three-level building as factors that slowed down efforts to quell the fire that has remained at Task Force Foxtrot, the sixth in a seven-step level, as of 1 p.m. yesterday, or 42 hours since the blaze started at 7:35 p.m. Sunday.
Maslang said two volunteers of North Town Fire Brigade and a Taguig fireman were reportedly evacuated by Philippine National Red Cross staff for treatment following suffocation and lacerations.
On the terminal, Cassion said safety officers were inspecting the south stairway’s cracks caused by the heat which could indicate the structural integrity of the structure that was part of the original fixtures put up in 1980.
Tracing the income-loss timeline, she reckoned that LRTA has been set back P4,106, 402.30 in the past six months.
Revenue loss, the statement noted, is based on foregone ticket sales to paying passengers on Line 1 alone.
Baclaran Galleria opposite Baclaran Terminal Plaza caught fire on Jan. 3 forcing the LRT station to shut down, giving up P903,230.90; a fire along Abad Santos and Blumentritt
Streets in Manila on April 18, lost P110,424.60 in cancelled trips; a blaze on Fifth Avenue in Caloocan City on April 20, P67,009.80; Welcome Plaza housing Puregold Mall, Pasay on July 17 beside the Libertad station, P971,985.30; and Good Earth Plaza in Sta. Cruz, Manila, P1,206,448.60
The Baclaran mall blaze has so far posted a loss of P847.303.
Recto said thick smoke caused the Oxygen Breathing Apparatus of frontliners to operate on shorter periods.
He said flames had spread to the ground floor which stored a motley of merchandise consisting of garments, textile and rubber materials.
Maslang noted similarities to the Wellcome fire, prompting his arson probers to look into the possibility that the place was torched.
LRTA operation officer-in-charge Felix Leynes said a dialog was being worked out with owners of buildings near LRT stations, local government units, National Police, Metro Manila Development Authority and the Interior Department.
The meeting would thresh out preventive measures such as strict enforcement of pertinent laws and ordinances. Ferdinand Fabella, Rene M. Alviar, Gigi Muñoz David
source: manilastandardtoday.com
Trackback(0)
|
News 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
