Fire guts commercial building in Zambo

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - - Millions worth of properties and goods went up in smoke  when a big fire razed a three-storey commercial building Tuesday afternoon along Veterans Avenue in this city, according to a Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) official. 

District Fire Marshal Superintendent Dominador Zabala Jr., said no one was hurt as occupants scampered while others who were initially trapped were rescued by  other civilians and firefighters that responded on the blaze that gutted the Zamsulu Building owned by Boon Seng Chua.

He said initial information disclosed that the fire broke out in one of the eight business departments of the building that sells auto supply and pyrotechnics and quickly spread to the whole edifice about 1:15 p.m.

Firefighters declared that the fire was  out after more than three hours of battling the blaze.

But Roel Natividad Jr., son of a boutique owner operating in one of the departments, disclosed his mother heard an explosion and the fire spread rapidly.

“My mother could not ascertain what caused the explosion at the department stall where the fire  came from...We barely salvaged anything as the fire engulfed the edifice immediately,” Natividad said.

Fire investigators estimated the damage of the fire to be worth millions. - Roel Pareño