2 stores hit in dawn blaze: Mall fire leaves P5.5M damage

Merchandise and property estimated to be worth P5.5 million went up in smoke or were damaged by water early yesterday during a fire in a shopping mall.

Fire investigators said that the blaze started at Olympic Village inside Ayala Center Cebu and also affected the adjacent Audionet.

The fire was tapped at 3:42 a.m. and the fire brigade of the mall was first to respond.

Firefighters from the Cebu City Fire Department said that the fire was put under control in just five minutes.

Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla said that the fire totally burned Olympic Village and partially damaged Audionet.  Both stores are located at the 2nd level of Ayala Center Cebu.

Damage to Olympic Village, a store selling sports apparel and equipment, was pegged at P4 million while P1.5 million was the estimate of the damage wrought on Audionet, a store selling cellular phones and other electronic devices.

Codilla explained that damage to Audionet was not only from the fire, but mainly due to the water coming from the sprinkler system, which was activated due to the fire.

Initial findings on the cause of the fire, according to Codilla, show that it started from an electrical outlet at Olympic Village that came into contact with merchandise that were stocked in the store.

The fire marshal however said that further investigation will be conducted to really determine what happened.

 Codilla added that there was a lot of damage brought by the water sprinkling system and he believes that other nearby establishments might report water damage to them also.

The establishments need to get a clearance from the fire department about damage incurred during fires including water damage to be able to claim insurance.

The operations of the mall however went on as scheduled.

In a press statement signed by Ver de la Cerna, head of the Corporate Communication and Customer Affairs Division, he said that mall was still opened on regular mall time as the incident was only confined within a small portion of one of the mall’s outlets, Olympic Village and was put under control by Ayala’s fire brigade with the assistance of the Mabolo Fire Department.—(/NLQ)