The Port Management Office of Misamis Oriental/Cagayan de Oro and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation – North Mindanao Import Facility (NMIF) activated their respective emergency response teams (ERT) to aid the firefight in Sitio San Isidro Labrador, Lapasan and St. John, Barangay Puntod, just outside the perimeter fence of the PMO Building 2 at around 8:00 AM on 17 August 2019.

The ERT together with personnel from Shell, who extended the fire hose from their waterfront facility inside the port, helped the responding firefighters in mitigating the fire and prevented it from spreading further. Firetrucks entered the PMO premises in order to come near the affected area. The PMO also offered additional water source to the fire response team. Sources from the BFP said the cause of the fire that reached 4th alarm was unattended cooking. The area was declared fire out past 11 AM. Five residents reportedly suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital while two residents at the area were extricated from the fire scene through PPA’s perimeter fence and were able to escape from suffocation. The fire incident displaced more than 100 families.

As part of the PMO’s MALASAKIT to its neighboring communities, the PMO personnel voluntarily contributed and served breakfast and dinner meals, which were prepared and distributed by PMO personnel on the following mornings starting 19 August 2019, to the fire victims who are temporarily staying along the road outside the PMO’s Gate 5 under makeshift tents. The PMO is currently consolidating cash and in-kind donations for the displaced families. —IMR Lam