20160404 Philippines Fire hits SWAT bldg; bombs nearly explode
Philippines Apr 03 2016 “Building”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire hits SWAT bldg; bombs nearly explode
Updated: 2016-04-04-00:00
Vintage bombs stored in an open area beside the Special Weapons and Tactics building at the Cebu City Police Office headquarters could have exploded reportedly had it not been for the timely intervention of firemen.
Cebu City Fire Station personnel rushed to CCPO after receiving a report at 12:40 p.m. yesterday that the SWAT building caught fire. They managed to put out the fire in eight minutes.
According to Senior Fire Officer 1 Ariel Balahadia, the circuit breaker of the air conditioning unit at the SWAT building caught fire and fragments from the breaker fell on the ground where there were boxes and woods.
Barangay Lorega’s Lorega-San Miguel Emergency Response Team (Losamert) was the first to respond and quickly sprayed water to the burning boxes.
The Water Tank 1 from Cebu City Fire Station and another volunteer fire truck came to help Losamert control the fire.
Losamert’s fire volunteer Ryan Ledesma said he did not know that there were vintage bombs in the area and only noticed them when the smoke was cleared.
Superintendent Arnel Banzon of the Regional Operations and Plans Division of the Police Regional Office-7 also rushed to CCPO to verify the report. He served as SWAT chief during his stint at CCPO before being assigned in the region.
He said that a fund was already allocated for the lot where the bombs would be placed and that some of the bombs will be taken by Central Command.
Banzon lauded the firefighters for their courage, saying that the result would have been catastrophic if the larger vintage bombs exploded.
A SWAT personnel who refused to be named said he heard two explosions before the firefighters arrived and believed that these came from the small vintage bombs. Luckily, no one was hurt.
“Perting delikadoha ana kay bomba biya ‘na. Although naa’y mga patay na diha pero naa pa na’y live g’yud, mga dagku raba,” Balahadia said.
Traces of the explosion were seen at the left outer side wall of the SWAT building but since the explosion was caused by an almost rundown bomb, it did not cause much damage.
Web Source: Philstar
http://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2016/04/04/1569293/fire-hits-swat-bldg-bombs-nearly-explode