Fire hits University of the East building By: Nestor Corrales 10:16 AM April 2nd, 2016 Recommended PHOTO BY JERSON SINCHIOCO A massive fire hit a building of the University of the (UE) in Recto, Manila on Saturday morning, a report from Radyo Inquirer 990AM said. The fire broke out at 9:35 a.m., TXTFIRE Philippines said. It said the blaze was raised to Task Force Charlie or the highest alarm level at 10:05 a.m before it was placed under control at 10: 39 a.m. A radio DZMM report said welding work at the College of Arts and Sciences Building may have sparked the fire. The report said the fire spread and also damaged the Engineering building including the University Chapel. It said a fire official estimated damage to property at about P22 million. No casualty was reported as university employees were immediately evacuated during the incident. The fire happened a day after a massive fire razed the Faculty Center of the University of the Philippines Diliman. CDG
Glad nobody was injured but if you have ever seen the way they weld here with no regard for the surrounding area and what may be flammable or damaged I am surprised these fires don't happen more often. Especially when they use a car or boat battery for power and have no ground wire. Very unsafe IMO.
From what I've seen I'm amazed that welders don't go blind after the first month on the job in the Philippines. I worked at a shipyard for several years and once had a nasty case of welder's flash from a leak in my mask that was not visible to the naked eye (and I did a solid 6 hours of welding that night ). When I woke up it felt like someone had taken a handful of sand, slapped it right in my eye and rubbed it in for a good measure, lighting a cigarette even with my eyes closed resulted in intense pain. Had to sit in a room with absolutely no light for 3 days while I recovered. Looking at some of the "safety equipment" they are using here (and the way they use it) just makes me shake my head. I never say anything because I know it wouldn't do any d*mn good.....some people just have to learn the hard way. As for fire safety: never once have I seen a welder here use leathers to even protect their own skin.....forget about fire blankets to prevent the crap around them from lighting up. I'm also surprised that d*mn near every welding job doesn't result in a situation where the fire department needs to be called.
100% agree. My son had job at shipyard in Subic as welding supervisor and I had bought him all the proper safety gear and when he showed up for work they told him he couldn't use any of it because nobody else had it and they were not going to provide it. Needless to say he quit that first day. That shipyard has had more injuries and deaths since they started operations they would have been shut down anywhere else in the world except another shi!th0le 3rd world country like here!
