At midnight on Ash Wednesday, alarms were activated: Smoke was coming from inside one of the busiest commercial premises in the David district, Chiriquí province.
Security agents who guarded other commercial premises, heard the repeated beep and alerted firefighters: “the City Mall burns.”
The noise of the sirens of the firefighters’ cars foreshadowed a large-scale fire. A video that circulated on social networks revives the creaking of burning objects. And it helps to imagine how a thriving business with a restaurant, ice cream parlor, clothes, books and toy shop was tinkering.
Three tanker trucks: two of 5,000 and one of 10,000 liters had not been enough. The low power and the fluctuation of the water prevented the effective work of eight hundred red shirts that came from different parts: from Veraguas, from Bugaba, from David. A task to which volunteers joined, said Gonzalo Chang, colonel and first commander of the regional area of Chiriquí.
“( We make) the energetic call to the National Government to provide the necessary tools to the Fire Department and correct the damage due to the lack of hydrants and low water pressure,” demanded the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Agriculture and Tourism of Chiriquí (Camchi), in a statement in which it expressed its regret for the fire.
UnemploymentTen
hours later, the firefighters had not The smoke kept coming out and announced that the fire was still alive. And the flames, inside, continued to consume the merchandise, walls and irons of a business that gave work to approximately 1,000 people, who are now in the air, and that will contribute to increasing the unemployment rate of 9.9%, after the COVID-19 pandemic, said Felipe Rodríguez, president of Camchi.
At 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, from the thriving three-storey business At that time there were areas that firefighters had not been able to enter. Seventeen hours to extinguish the fire.
Losses.
Losses are large: $10 million in inventory, Rodríguez calculated. But it can be more. Yes, much more!
The causes that caused the voracious fire are still unknown. They could not be established until the fire was extinguished and an investigation was initiated, Chang said. But Rodríguez believes that the strong winds that are being recorded in the province and that have caused the fall of trees and short circuits in the electrical fluid could be a cause of the fire.
Resignation
In a message of encouragement and resignation, the City Mall Group assured that it will resurface from the ashes. He thanked the Chirican community for their support in such difficult times. And he offered his unconditional support to the collaborators. “We will continue to work to provide the best quality, service, and the best prices as only City Mall knows how to do,” he said.