9-hour fire destroys warehouse in Taguig

A warehouse in Taguig City which contained raw material used for manufacturing boxes burned to the ground Sunday.

Chief Inspector Junito Maslang, city fire marshal, said that the roof of the warehouse owned by Triple Star Packaging Corp. collapsed due to the intense heat caused by the fire which raged for hours before it was finally placed under control at 5:25 p.m.

He added in a phone interview that the blaze started around 8:30 a.m. and the flames were quick to spread since the establishment was packed with flammable materials,

“The bulk of the raw materials used in making boxes like rolls of paper was burned,” he said.

“While we have contained the fire, we are still having problems putting it out because of the materials [inside the warehouse] which are combustible,” he told the Inquirer.

Maslang said the fire reached the Task Force Delta alarm level which requires all fire station chiefs in Metro Manila to deploy their fire trucks to the scene at once.

When the blaze continued to rage at 4 p.m., most of the fire trucks in the area—which at that time numbered more than 100—were forced to leave the area as the water in their tanks had to be replenished.

Maslang, however, said that firemen from the Taguig fire station remained at the scene and continued to battle the flames while waiting for their colleagues to return.

Aside from the water supply running out, the heat spawned by the flames also added to the difficulty of putting out the fire.

“[We] are having problems extinguishing the source of the fire because of the intense heat,” he added.

He said that he had spoken to the owner of the warehouse who told him that there was about P10 million worth of raw material stored at the establishment when the blaze broke out.

Maslang refused to speculate what could have triggered the raging fire, saying that arson investigators were still piecing together the information gathered from witnesses and the warehouse owner.

He added that he was unsure whether the company was operating Sunday morning when the fire began.

Maslang also said that as of press time, he had yet to learn if there was anyone killed or hurt in the blaze.