MARKET FIRE:
Fire hits a portion of Unit 3 of Carbon Market in Cebu City on Thursday, Nov. 29.
The second level of Unit 3 of the Carbon Public Market was razed by fire after a live wire was cut off from a post past 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29.
The incident caused a City Hall blackout the entire afternoon, which affected government transactions.
Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, in a Facebook post, cautioned City Hall employees from going to the Cebu City Sports Center early for cash bonus distributions.
“To all Cebu City teachers, there’s a BIG fire at Carbon Market so it’s brownout at City Hall all afternoon,” said Young. “Treasurers have suspended cash count preparation for our P10,000 and senior citizens also. Please don’t go early to the sports center. Maybe 10 a.m. would be better.”
On Friday, Nov. 30, the City will distribute the bonus of City Hall employees and teachers.
Cebu City Fire Marshal Chief Insp. Noel Nelson Ababon said the fire started at the office of the Cebu City Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, Enhancement (Probe) when its electric wire from a Visayan Electric Co. post was severed. The cut wire went straight to the Probe warehouse, which stores items confiscated from sidewalk vendors. The items prompted the fire to flare up.
“I investigated why the fire was getting stronger. There were items confiscated from sidewalk [vendors] and maybe they were made of combustible materials,” said Ababon.
The office of the Cebu City Market Administrator was also destroyed by the fire.
Most of those affected by the fire were vegetable vendors and those selling images of the Santo Niño.
No one was injured in the incident, but the firefighters had a hard time going inside the building because of the narrow space. They had to wear self-contained breathing apparatus.