Grassfire seen as possible cause of NAIA parking lot blaze

The fire that burned cars in an outdoor pay parking area at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) may have been caused by a grassfire due to the extremely hot weather, the airport's management said.

According to a report on Unang Balita on Tuesday, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is in talks with the concessionaire of the parking area for possible assistance to the owners of the affected cars.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) on Monday said the fire broke out in the parking lot around 1:35 p.m. and was declared out around 2:03 p.m. Eighteen cars were totally burned while one was partially burned.

MIAA General Manager Eric Ines earlier said the agency owned the property where the parking area was located but it was being leased.

“Palagay namin aksidente. Hindi siguro sinadya ito. Mabilis lang talaga kahit anong tingin mo nakakatakot talaga magsindi ka lang ng konti ang bilis,” Ines said in Mark Salazar’s “24 Oras” report on Monday.

(We think it is just an accident. The fire just spread quickly.)

“Di namin alam kung sinu-sino mga may-ari. Ipapatawag namin kung sino in charge dito. Halo-halo na. 'Yung isa empleyado daw pero 'yung iba 'di namin alam. Baka nga di nila alam hanggang ngayon na nasunog,” he added.

(We don’t know the car owners. We will ask the people in charge of the parking lot. The owners are a mix of people. One of them is said to be an airport employee. We have no idea about the others. They may not even know about the fire.)

Ines also said they would coordinate with the private concessionaire running the pay-per-parking to determine the assistance the firm will extend to the affected car owners.

“Ang importante is how we can avoid ang mga ganitong klaseng sitwasyon because very dry ang season natin ngayon. Susceptible to fire,” he said.

(What’s important is to prevent a repeat of the situation.)

The incident did not affect the operations of NAIA terminals.

The fire came amid the dangerous heat index levels in some parts of the country. PAGASA said that the heat index in some areas may rise to 42°C to 45°C. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA Integrated News