Fire causes temporary closure of Alabang viaduct

Both the north and southbound lanes of the Alabang viaduct were closed on Wednesday morning, after fire caused the power transmission line of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in the area to lean on one side.

In an emailed statement, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said it was forced to close both lanes of the Alabang viaduct for safety precautions.

SMC operates the South Luzon Expressway through its unit South Luzon Tollway Corp. (SLTC).

In a Facebook post, the NGCP said the tower was supposedly burned and damaged by illegal settlers, causing the 230-kilovolt Biñan-Muntinlupa line to trip at 9:01 a.m.

According to SMC, high-tension power cables then fell on the Alabang viaduct main carriageway, posing threats to motorists in the area.

"Because of the imminent danger this situation posed to motorists, we closed both the northbound and southbound Alabang viaduct at around 9:10 a.m. to ensure the public's safety. We reopened all lanes by 9:52 a.m.," it said.

It noted, however, that the northbound Alabang exit plaza of the SLEX remained temporarily closed due to the collapsed NGCP tower.

The Fire Departement declared fire out at around 10:11 a.m.

"We apologize to our motorists for the inconvenience caused by a residential fire near the Alabang northbound exit of the South Luzon Expressway," SMC said.

"We continue to work to ease the traffic buildup caused by this incident and have deployed additional personnel and traffic enforcers on site," it added. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/KBK, GMA News