MANILA, Philippines — Authorities on Tuesday morning declared the fire at the Manila Central Post Office out, nearly 31 hours since the fire started in the basement of the iconic building on Liwasang Bonifacio.
State-run PTV4 reported that the Bureau of Fire Protection declared fire out 6:33 a.m.
Related Stories
The BFP also tallied 18 people who were injured due to the fire, including one civilian, one fire volunteer and 16 firefighters from their bureau.
The fire, which “totally damaged” the Manila Central Post Office, started at 11:41 p.m. on Sunday. First responders said that a stay-in employee reported seeing thick smoke coming from the basement.
The BFP declared the fire under control at 7:22 a.m. of Monday.
Initial estimates showed that the fire—which forced the BFP to raise a general alarm, its highest alarm status—caused damage worth P300 million. Assessment is still ongoing so that figure may still go up.
The Manila Central Post Office houses the headquarters of the government-owned and controlled Philippine Postal Corp., and the main mail sorting and distribution operations of the country.
Among those that were damaged by the fire are Philippine IDs, although the Philippine Statistics Authority have said only IDs bound for Manila were affected.
An estimated 82 fire trucks—42 from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and 40 volunteer firefighting groups—in Metro Manila and neighboring areas responded to the emergency.
Sen. Robinhood Padilla has already called for a legislative inquiry into the fire that destroyed a part of the country’s cultural heritage, as he stressed the need to revisit and assess the effectiveness of existing preservation and protection measures. — Kristine Joy Patag with reports from Xave Greogorio, The STAR/Ghio Ong