DAVAO CITY – A fire hit a restaurant in a shopping mall on JP Laurel Bajada here Monday, July 12.
Fire Insp. Shaira Borja, chief of operations of the Davao City Fire District (DCFD), said the fire occurred on the second floor of GMall of Davao.
"We received the fire call from the staff of the establishment around 8 a.m. and it was under control around 8:24 a.m. Fire out was declared at 10:38 a.m.," Borja said.
Borja said estimated damage in the fire based on their initial investigation was P50,000.
"First alarm lang naman (It was only under first alarm)," Borja said, adding that the restaurant's staff saw smoke coming from their exhaust dock.
"Yung nagreport ng sunog staff ng establishment kasi nagi-grill sila in preparation for their opening. Then may nakita silang smoke sa exhaust dock (The staff who reported the incident said they were grilling in preparation for the store opening when they saw smoke from the exhaust dock)," she said.
Borja said the fire might have been caused by the ignition of embers sucked inside the exhaust dock with oil residues.
She said food establishments should always maintain their areas properly to avoid similar incidents.
"Proper maintenance lang talaga ng dock system and walang grease na matira. Kasi pag hindi ma-maintain ng maayos may tendency na maka-caught ng fire kasi flammable," she added.
The management of GMall of Davao added that no one was hurt during the incident.
"Our safety team, together with the Bureau of Fire Protection and fire volunteers, quickly responded and the fire was put out immediately. No one was hurt during the incident. Our team is completing the safety checks in the affected restaurant," it said in a statement.
"The supermarket, department store, and the rest of the mall are unaffected and are back to normal operations today," it added.