ILOILO — A fire destroyed seven commercial stalls at the Feeder Port in Barangay Poblacion Zone 2, Estancia, Iloilo, past 1 p.m. on Monday, July 13.
According to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) – Estancia, five establishments were totally destroyed while two sustained partial damage. No injuries or casualties were reported, though the estimated cost of damage reached P126,000.
Authorities stated that the blaze may have been triggered by either a faulty electrical line or an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tank.
Meanwhile, the emergency response faced a technical hurdle when BFP-Estancia’s primary responding vehicle experienced a mechanical failure at the scene.
Fire Inspector Jory L. Biliran, acting municipal fire marshal of BFP-Estancia, clarified in an interview with K5 News FM Sara that their FE 1 Mitsubishi Canter fire truck malfunctioned while fire officers were actively trying to suppress the flames.
Their investigation revealed that the issue stemmed from the primary and secondary clutch master assemblies. Due to this defect, the vehicle’s Power Take-Off system — which transfers power from the engine to the fire pump — failed to engage properly. As a result, the water pump could not activate or discharge water.
BFP-Estancia emphasized that the glitch was entirely unforeseen and was not caused by a shortcoming or lack of readiness on the part of their personnel. Biliran said the fire truck was already on standby in the area after completing routine establishment inspections and deployed immediately upon receiving the distress call.
A secondary fire truck immediately arrived at the scene just three minutes later, allowing firefighters to quickly combat and extinguish the fire.
As of this writing, the BFP-Estancia was continuing its investigation into the exact cause of the fire./PN
