Fires break out at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Two fires hit the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at the height of the Pacquiao-Hatton slugfest, although no one was hurt and firemen immediately brought the fires under control.

The first blaze hit the Victoria Air Hangar at the Manila Domestic Airport. The hangar is used to store various airplane parts and components.

According to Fred Vasquez, the action officer on duty at the NAIA Command Center, a certain Rolando de Vera was cooking rice on a makeshift stove in the hangar, using a bottle of high-octane airplane gasoline to start the fire.

While waiting for the rice to cook, a passing cat accidentally spilled the bottle’s contents on itself and on De Vera’s right arm, both of which caught fire.

The cat scrambled to the ceiling, setting it on fire, De Vera told Vasquez. The fire consumed the roof of the hangar, and responding firemen put it out at about 11 a.m.

The cat was burned to death, while De Vera was brought to the Manila Domestic Airport clinic where his minor burn was treated.

On the other hand, a faulty electrical connection was blamed for the thick smoke that came out of the Cora Jacob’s boutique at the second floor of the NAIA Terminal 1.

Employees told Vasquez they investigated the source of the smoke and found that a dimmer switch had melted, apparently due to a short circuit, and threatened to erupt into a full-blown fire.

An alert employee grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire at about 12:10 p.m. yesterday. No one was injured in the boutique fire.