Cebu City mall fire finally put out after more than 2 days

Senior Supt. Samuel Tadeo, Bureau of Fire Protection director for Central Visayas, has declared fire out at Metro department store in Ayala Center Cebu, two days after the fire broke out from the store’s 3rd floor on Friday night. -Tonee Despojo, Cebu Daily News

CEBU CITY—The fire that gutted the Metro department store in Ayala Center Cebu has finally been put out, more than two days after the blaze broke out on Friday night.

Senior Supt. Samuel Tadeo, Bureau of Fire Protection in Central Visayas (BFP-7) director, declared a fire out in Metro Ayala at 4:18 p.m. on Monday.

“It took time for us to declare a fire out because we wanted to make sure that even the smallest embers inside the building had been put out,” said Tadeo.

He, however, said at least two fire trucks would be still be placed on stand-by at Metro Ayala just in case the fire might rekindle.

Tadeo said the BFP investigators and personnel had also gone inside the burnt structure and made an inspection.

He also talked to the management and tenants of Ayala Center Cebu that they could start the cleanup and then their operation since the fire had been put out in the adjacent Metro Ayala.

Fire broke out from the stockroom of the toys section on the 3rd floor of Metro Ayala at 9:48 p.m. on Friday.

Since then, firefighters from as far as Danao City in the north and Carcar City in the south responded and worked nonstop to put out the fire. /je