Probe starts after mall fire declared ‘under control’

AFTER nearly four days, Cebu City firefighters declared  the Gaisano Capital South Mall fire “under control” yesterday.

This means  the fire within the mall’s premises was  already confined and  the fire department can  start its  assessment, said Cebu City Fire Investigator FO3 Fortunato Bucia.

“There is still a smoke underneath the building. It’s still too hot to go inside. We still can’t penetrate,” said Bucia.

The initial damage estimate was placed at P14 million for the structure alone.

He said it could go higher  in tomorrow’s progress report.

“The pegged  estimate of the damage is just for the structural portion of the building when it was still in a  state of fire. The contents of the mall were not yet included in the estimate,” Bucia told Cebu Daily News.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, although the origin was traced to the receiving area in the ground floor where security guards said they first saw smoke.

“We cannot determine the cause of fire as of now. We are still conducting  an ’overhauling’,” Bucia said in Cebuano.

They will invite  mall security guards for questioning.

Bucia said investigators collected ashes and debris from the mall’s receiving   area, in the presence of of mall personnel.

The remnants were sealed in a tin can to be sent  to the Bureau of Fire and Protection arson laboratory in Manila within the week for investigation.

Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Aderson Comar, Cebu City fire marshal, clarified reports that mall security guards refused to let them enter the mall’s premises for four hours.

Comar said there were at least two fire teams—his team was positioned at the front of the mall where there was no fire then so  the guards wouldn’t allow them to enter.

The other team led by FO3 Bucia arrived at the fire scene  past 12 midnight and  were allowed  to enter a  side entrance of the mall near the Jollibee store on  Leon Kilat Street where the smoke was seen.

“We did a forcible entry and smashed the glass windows,” Bucia said in Cebuano.

However, they were not able to enter the mall due to the “very thick smoke.”

“It was zero visibility. Di makaya (We couldn’t enter),” Bucia recalled. /Rhea Ruth V. Rosell, Correspondent