A liquefied petroleum gas storage plant at Salong Village, Calaca, Batangas has been on fire for more than 24 hours as of press time. Two have been reported injured.
Fred Bragas, regional information officer of the Office of Civil Defense-Calabarzon, said Sunday morning that a general alarm has been declared in the area and a total of 559 individuals have been evacuated to Calaca Central School for temporary shelter as a precautionary measure in case of gas explosion.
The fire started just after 4 p.m. Saturday.
The injured residents are undergoing treatment at the Calaca General Hospital.
Bragas said that personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Batangas and nearby provinces are still fighting the fire with special chemicals because the LPG in the terminal needs special skills and special equipment to contain.
Meanwhile, food packs are being distributed to the evacuees from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Batangas province, Bragas said.
BFP personnel are still investigating the cause of the fire at the gas depot.
Meanwhile, the development may cause the shutdown of the oil depot of Phoenix Petroleum for three days.
Company spokesman Raymond Zorilla clarified it was not Phoenix’s depot but an LPG plant from another company co-located in the park that caught fire Saturday around 4 p.m. Still, “we need to check the integrity of our facility and take all necessary precautions first,” Zorilla said.
Zorilla said he does not see any supply crunch arising from their plant shutdown as they will draw from their other depots in the country such as in Visayas and Mindanao.