Ten people, including senior citizens, children, and a baby, were rescued by the Bureau of Fire Protection –San Juan (BFP-San Juan) from a blaze that hit a high-rise building in Greenhills, San Juan on Sunday morning (February 28).
BFP-San Juan director Supt. John F. Pinagod Jr. said they used an aerial ladder from BFP-NCR’ Special Rescue Force to rescue those who got trapped from the Annapolis Tower located at 43, Annapolis Street in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan.
“Our complete equipment such as breathing apparatus made it possible to quickly and safely rescue those who got trapped. There were at least 10 of them--- senior citizens, children, and a baby,” he said during a phone interview.
After getting rescued, BFP-San Juan checked the vital signs of the residents of the six-storey building.
“Mayor Francis Zamora was also with us and provided meals and drinks to those rescued and to BFP personnel,” said Pinagod.
When asked about the origin of the fire, he said that the blaze most likely started from the ceiling at the second floor of the building.
“We have not ruled it out but that is what our initial investigation showed. The building is an old structure as its ceilings were made of wood, new buildings no longer use that, what they use now is aluminium,” the BFP-San Juan director said.
The fire started at 9:45 a.m., and was declared fire out at 11:17 a.m.
According to Pinagod, around 20 fire trucks from neighboring cities responded and helped them extinguish the fire.