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(UPDATED – 8:15 p.m.) MANILA – Two weeks after a deadly fire swept through the NCCC mall in Davao City, killing 37 people, another mall fire is raging, this time in Cebu City, and firefighters were reported to be having difficulty controlling it because of the similar monolithic closed-box design of the mall.
Firefighters have had to bore halls through concrete walls of the Metro Ayala Mall at the Ayala Center in Cebu in order to provide a way for the thick, noxious smoke to come out, radio reports said.
The fire has been raging 15 hours as of posting time, and began on the third floor, at a toy store. The NCCC mall fire in Davao that began morning of December 23 was put out after 23 hours, but 37 SSI call center agents at the fourth floor were trapped and killed.
Firefighters at the Ayala Center mall in Cebu have brought out their breathing apparatus given the thick smoke and difficulty in penetrating parts of the building, reports said.
By late Saturday afternoon, the huge fire has caused widespread smoke hazard, so much so that the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management office issued a haze alert and the city health office posted guidance for susceptible residents.
