Fire guts Baguio bazaar

BAGUIO CITY – A huge fire gutted an eight-story bazaar along Harrison Road here Wednesday afternoon.

Flames engulfed the upper floors of the Tiongsan Bazaar, one of the newest stores of the prominent Lao family in this city, starting at around 1 p.m.,  and were put under control nine hours later, leaving firefighters exhausted.

The building’s sixth and seventh floors were said to be stockpiled with highly combustible items like ready-to-wear clothes kept in cartons.

The blaze almost gutted the Rosebowl restaurant beside the bazaar.

Tiongsan is the oldest chain of bazaars in Baguio City. Its oldest outlet along Magsaysay Avenue, across the public market, has been known since the 1960s. It recently opened a new branch in La Trinidad, Benguet.

The Tiongsan chain experienced its first huge fire about 10 years ago, said businesswoman-owner Ellen Lao.

No one was reported hurt in Wednesday’s blaze. The smoke reached all the way to Session Road, the city’s main thoroughfare.

Firefighters, with help from many of the city’s private water delivery firms, had a hard time dousing the fire at the sixth, seventh and eighth floors, even as firefighters from Benguet Electric Cooperative, Philippine Military Academy, Camp John Hay and nearby towns in Benguet came to the rescue.

The blaze also left several commuters stranded as jeepney routes in the central business district had to be re-routed.

The Tiongsan Bazaar fire is the second biggest in Baguio this year. Last Feb. 16, two buildings of the University of Baguio were razed by a huge blaze that started from the old high school building. Damage to property was placed at P70 million.