3,000 employees affected as fire hits Subic warehouses

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The livelihoods of at least 3,000 employees are at risk after a fire hit several buildings in Subic, Pampanga.

In a "24 Oras" report from Oscar Oida on Thursday, authorities have yet to fully declare a fireout in several warehouses at Subic Bay Gateway Park. Footage from Youscooper Rexie Roan showed people fleeing from a growing fire at the warehouse on Wednesday night.

Roan said that they had been on the second floor when they started to smell something burning from the ground floor. The building had been a factory for bags used in exporting. A neighboring furniture factory also caught fire.

“You can just imagine, syempre yung textiles niyan, yung plastic na ginagamit ng pang-clothes, yung mga ganoon… so parang sinilaban mo talaga,” said Armie Llamas, the manager of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Corporate Affairs Department.

(You can just imagine, of course, the textiles there, the plastic used in clothes, like that… so of course it is like you set it ablaze.)

Firefighters from areas outside of Subic such as Olongapo, Angeles and Lubao also responded to the flames. Responders even had to use an aerial ladder just to reach some parts of the fire.

“Hindi naman kami nagkaproblema kaya lang the fire was really massive talaga, na hindi kakayanin ng ilang responders lang,” Llamas said.

(We did not have much of a problem but the fire was really massive; a few responders were not enough.)

The thick smoke reached all the way to the Subic Freeport Expressway and SCTEX, leading to a few traffic patrollers needing to assist motorists.

Despite authorities declaring the fire to be under control at around 7:00 a.m., there was still smoke coming from the burning buildings. Firefighters also would not simply enter the building, as the integrity of the building had already been compromised.

Debris was already seen falling from the factories. The media was only allowed to capture footage from a distance. Authorities are still determining the amount of damage sustained by the factories.

While no one was killed in the incident, one firefighter was injured, and many employees have had their livelihoods affected.

“Ang employees po ng Jinboway ay nasa almost 3,000 something. Magpapasko pa naman ngayon so we will be exploring possible measures kung paano po sila matutulungan through our SBMA labor department. We will coordinate with the owners ng company na affected na syempre may mga personnel and doon sa mga service providers din ng companies na yon,” Llamas said.

(Jinboway’s employees reach around 3,000 something. It is near Christmas so we will be exploring measures on how they can be helped through our SBMA labor department. We will coordinate with the owners of the companies that are affected, who of course have personnel as well as the service providers of those companies.) —Jean Mangaluz/LDF, GMA News