Market fire gobbles P1.3M in properties, hurts one

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The fire that hit a portion of a public market in Bago City, Negros Occidental on Monday night left an estimated P1.3 million in damages, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reported.

Fire Officer 3 Rudy Geroche, chief personnel of Bago City Fire Station, said the fire which broke out around 8:35 p.m. destroyed 13 stalls and damaged three others.

Based on the initial investigation of the BFP, the fire started from the store of a certain “Bryan Baring” and immediately spread to neighboring stalls through the ceiling made of light materials.

The flames even became big due to inflammable materials and some products inside the stores, Geroche said.

“Initially, we found out that the blaze was caused by overheat electrical wiring. It probably didn’t sustain the heat from the insulator,” Geroche said.

Geroche said it took them more than two hours to contain the fire, which was raised to the third alarm.

A third alarm means that fire stations in the towns of Valladolid and San Enrique, as well as Bacolod’s fire substation in Barangay Sum-ag, and other volunteer fire brigades responded to the fire call, he added.

He said they had difficulty penetrating the area because all stores were already closed when the fire incident happened.

“We were forced to destroy the roll-up doors of the stores in order to directly contain the fire,” he added.

He said that a man sustained first-degree burn after he tried to save some items from the burning stalls, but he was not confined at a hospital because of his minor injuries.

Meanwhile, Mayor Nicholas Yulo, who also went to the area during the incident, said that the city government will provide financial assistance to the affected stall owners.

“Most likely since this is an emergency, we will extend help to the affected stall owners,” he said, as he assured that the “market shall rise again.”