Fire investigators eye three angles in Trinoma fire

Investigators are looking at three angles regarding the cause of the fire which affected the warehouse of the Trinoma Mall in Quezon City, a report on Balitanghali on Wednesday said. 

Quezon City District Fire Marshal Senior Superintendent Manuel Manuel said an electrical appliance which was left unattended could be the cause of the fire.

"Nag-test sila doon ng appliances at nakalimutan nilang hugutin," Manuel said in the report by GMA News' Oscar Oida.

He added that investigators are also checking if a lighted cigarette sparked the fire. 

"Sa investigation namin, parang may nag-deliver around 1 o'clock. Then pagtapos around 2:30, may nasunog na doon. Kung 'yung nagdeliver is merong... nagsisigarilyo, kasi mga appliances 'yun, at saka kulob na area 'yun," Manuel explained. 

Manuel said they would also call the security guards on duty while the incident happened and some staff from the engineering office for further investigation as they are also looking into the possibility that the fire was intended.  

He also said he had noticed that there was no sprinkler inside the storage area. 

"Ang observation ko doon is walang sprinkler doon sa may bodega. Kung wala talaga doon, violation 'yun dahil supposed to be lahat ng area ng building na 'yan, mapa-parking, mapa-storage... eh meron dapat sprinkler doon sa area na 'yun," he said. 

Meanwhile, the management of Landmark has not yet issued a statement regarding the incident. 

Trinoma, however, has apologized for the incident. 

The fire broke out at 2:27 p.m. on Monday at the warehouse of Landmark inside the mall.  

The management ordered all its employees at the new wing of the Landmark Department Store and Trinoma's North Avenue wing to evacuate the premises.

It took firemen four hours to completely put out the fire. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KG, GMA News