Baclaran fire disrupts LRT operations

Several rush-hour passengers were stranded early Thursday as an early-morning fire at a mall in Baclaran disrupted operations at the Light Rail Transit (LRT). LRT Administration (LRTA) head Melquiades Robles said the smoke from the fire at the Galleria Baclaran Mall forced them to close the LRT terminal in the Baclaran area. "Ang operation namin, we will exclude Baclaran (We will exclude Baclaran from our operations). Commercial operations will start from EDSA to Monumento stations," Robles said in an interview on dzBB radio. He said trains will still proceed to the Baclaran station from EDSA station, but only to "turn around" and head for the opposite direction, toward Monumento. Passengers will be dropped off and accommodated at the EDSA station, he said. Earlier, several employees manning ticket booths at the Baclaran terminal left their posts as they could not stand the smoke from the fire. Guards padlocked the entrance of the Baclaran station due to the smoke. Passengers were advised to wait for an LRT ride at the Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) station. Moments earlier, LRT public relations consultant Jinky Jorgio insisted that LRT operations would continue "normally" for the day. "Ang aming operation tuloy-tuloy po kasi nasa taas ito. Hanggang Baclaran ang biyahe namin. Sa taas ito, di kami apektado ng usok (Our operation will continue normally because the LRT is elevated. The trains will still accommodate passengers at the Baclaran terminal. We're not affected)," Jorgio said. Radio dzXL reported that shortly before 9 a.m., LRT employees stopped giving tickets to passengers for "five to 10 minutes" because of the smoke. But it said there was no official word from LRT management that operations at the Baclaran area would be suspended altogether. A fire believed caused by an overheating air-conditioning unit hit the third floor of a three-story mall near the busy Light Rail Transit (LRT) terminal in Baclaran early Thursday morning. Radio dzBB reported that no one was reported injured in the fire, which damaged goods sold in some stalls at the Galleria Baclaran shopping mall. Firefighters had to don oxygen masks as the pathways were too narrow for them to pass. The fire, which started shortly after 6 a.m., reached the second alarm. LRT operations were not affected, the report said. Arson investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire, even as vendors in the mall belied speculations a firecracker may have caused the fire. Vendors said most of the items being sold inside the mall were T-shirts and other ready-to-wear (RTW) items. - GMANews.TV