[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Fire bureau still clueless on cause of feed mill blaze ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=’18’ font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
ILOILO City – What caused the fire that struck a feed mill in Barangay Mali-ao, Pavia, Iloilo on Sunday?
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) estimated the damage to have reached around P12 million.
But as to what triggered the fire, the bureau was yet to make a conclusion as of this writing.
According to BFP-Pavia’s Fire Inspector Jesus Valenzuela, their investigation was not finished yet. He said, however, it appeared the blaze started at the south point of the feed mill’s stockroom or warehouse.
On the other hand, a fire fighter who asked for anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter said the fire seemed to have emanated from different points of the stockroom and spread very quickly.
He considered this inconsistent with fires that were usually triggered by electrical short circuit or, say, lit cigarette butts.
Fire trucks from the nearby municipality of Santa Barbara and the Iloilo City-based Iloilo Citizens Action Group Volunteer Fire Brigade and Federation Iloilo Fire Brigade helped the Pavia BFP.
The blazed started around 3:45 p.m.
“We found hard to penetrate the area. Sacks of feeds blocked our way,” said Valenzuela.
It took some 12 hours of work for firemen to finally declare the area safe. Valenzuela said removing soaked sacks of feeds during the mop-up was challenging.
Firemen had to use a backhoe to remove them.
A forklift operator of the feed mill, 38-year-old Rey Almirante of Lambunao, Iloilo, said they were about to start their operation when the fire struck.
“We saw black smoke billowing from the roof of the stockroom,” according to Almirante.
They tried to put out the fire but the feed mill’s standby hose was not long enough to reach the stockroom, he said.
An estimated 30,000 sacks of raw materials for feed processing like corn, soya and chaff went up in smoke, according to Almirante./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
