Firefighters late Tuesday night finally controlled the fire that hit the Baclaran Terminal Plaza 1 in Pasay City more than 48 hours since it started Sunday evening.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), however, said it will take them until Wednesday morning to extinguish the flames due to lack of equipment.
Firefighters had a hard time putting the fire under control because of thick smoke that accumulated inside the mall.
“Ang content ng mall ay RTWs (ready-to-wear clothes). ‘Pag ‘yun nasunog, ‘yung baga at smoke niya toxic,” said Chief Inspector Junito Maslang, the city's fire marshal.
He also cited the lack of equipment in their failure to immediately put out the fire.
“Mahirap ma-penetrate because of the fire equipment… breathing apparatus kulang,” said Maslang.
Putting out the blaze, however, means good news to commuters as it will lead to the re-opening of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Baclaran station, which is adjacent the burning mall.
The LRT Authority earlier raised concerns over the successive fires near their stations, citing the effects of such incidents to revenues and to the rail system itself.
As of Monday, the Baclaran fire has cost LRTA P400,000 in revenues, which is already 25 percent of its declared losses in year 2007. A week before, they have lost an estimated P700,000 in revenues after a fire near the LRT station in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
On July 17, another fire struck at a mall near the LRT station in Libertad, also in Pasay. Hundreds of thousands of pesos in revenues were also lost during that day.
But more than the losses, the LRTA said it is concerned about passenger safety since the successive fires that take place near their stations could compromise the integrity of their system and structures.
In the first eight months of this year, six fires have taken place beside LRT stations, two of which were in Pasay. With a report from Joey Villarama, ABS-CBN News