Firefighters make daring rescue of 49 trapped in QC building

Firefighters on Wednesday had to use an aerial ladder to rescue 49 persons trapped inside a commercial building in Quezon City due to a fire.

According to Mark Salazar’s report on “24 Oras,” personnel of the Quezon City branch of the Bureau of Fire Protection (QC-BFP) responded to the incident at about 10:30 a.m., at a building on the corner of Scout Tuazon and Scout Rallos streets.

The fire only reached the first alarm, but several individuals were trapped on the 8th floor due to the thick smoke coming from the fire in a restaurant on the ground floor.

“Nasunog ang pina-exhaust nila. Tsine-check pa natin kung ano talaga ‘yung pwede, baka ‘yung mga mantika naipon sa exhaust, ‘yun ang pinagsimulan. Pwedeng ganon,” said QC Fire District director Senior Superintendent Gary Alto.

(Their exhaust caught fire. We are checking the cause, maybe some oil that collected in the exhaust started the fire.)

Firefighters broke some windows and even used a huge exhaust, but these were not enough to rescue the trapped individuals.

“Malakas ‘yung usok, hindi lahat nakakaya ng exhaust na mailabas lahat sila. Then pumapasok sa ating ventilation, pumasok sa ating mga kwarto,” Alto said.

(The smoke was thick, the exhaust couldn't handle it for them to get out. The smoke also entered the ventilation and rooms.)

This prompted the BFP to use an aerial ladder to get the trapped people out. 

“Nagpapasalamat naman kami na wala naman isang nasugatan o may problema dun sa kanilang paghinga,” Alto said.

(We are thankful that no one was hurt or had problems breathing.)

One of the trapped individuals said that they were not able to get out of the building as thick smoke swiftly engulfed the entire floor.

“Hindi na namin nalaman kung saan nanggaling ang sunog. ‘Yung tumunog na lang alarm namin dahil sa kapal ng usok. Hindi na rin kami nakalabas kasi nga zero visibility na ang kapal na agad ng usok. Kaya naghanap na kami ng ibang lugar area, open air, dun na kami na-trap,” he said.

(We never knew where the fire came from. Our alarm just went off because of the thick smoke. We couldn't even get out because of the thick smoke. There was zero visibility. So, we looked for open air, that's where we got trapped.)

Firefighters were able to control the fire at 11:59 a.m. and declared the fire out at 12:04 p.m.

The cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage are still being investigated. — Mel Matthew Doctor/BM, GMA News