A building of an industrial plant manufacturing heat insulation products in barangay Upper Tabok in Mandaue City was gutted by fire yesterday morning.
Two employees of Mars Foam Manufacturing Corp., that produces aluminum foil styrofoam, a heat insulator used in roofings suffered first degree burns after they tried to put out the fire that broke out at 6:52 a.m.
Raul Armodia and Noe Villasola initially tried to put out the fire using fire extinguishers. When they thought they cannot control the fire, they tried to retrieve tanks of liquified petroleum gas stored in the building and were hurt in the process.
It took an hour and 30 minutes for firefighters from the Mandaue City Fire Station to put out the fire.
Arson investigator Nilo Cosido said that they are looking into faulty electrical wiring as the cause of the fire. He however did not rule out arson.
He added they have collected specimens from the fire scene for examination by the arson laboratory of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Manila. Damage was placed at P250,000.
Armodia and Villasola were treated for burns in the fire scene as their injuries were minor and did not need further treatment in the hospital.