A flaming industrial oven filled with pork bellies being roasted turned out to be the first assignment of Virac Fire Station’s two new firetrucks last Dec. 24, 2023.
Municipal Fire Marshal F/Sr. Insp. Dennis Tadoy told the Tribune that the Christmas eve blaze was reported to the station at 11:05 AM, with fire personnel on board the two trucks arriving at the scene five minutes later. The fire was declared under control at 11:17 AM and completely doused by 11:23 AM.
The now ruined industrial gas-type oven was owned by Dennis Salamatin, 42, with no casualty reported among the two occupants of the bakery along Gomez St. in barangay Palnab del Norte.
The non-structural fire incident was the second in the month of December.
Last Dec. 15 at 3:27 PM, the fire station personnel used a 45-year-old firetruck in responding to a similar blaze at the Eastern Bicol Medical Center (EBMC) compound.
In front of the main hospital building at the grounds where a Smart cellsite tower was built, a diesel generating set was on fire. The fire was immediately put out shortly after the BFP personnel arrived.