Spanish
Santo Domingo. - The Dominican Civil Defense maintains a wide deployment of personnel supporting the response efforts to the fire recorded at Ferretería San Miguel, located on Independencia Avenue, where the fire has been controlled in approximately 50%, after several hours of continuous work.
This was reported by Jervison Cáceres, national coordinator of the Emergency Brigade of Civil Defense, central office, who explained that around 30 members from different departments are at the site, including personnel from Santo Domingo province, the National Institute, and the K zone.
"We are providing support to the different fire departments that are here, such as San Cristobal, Santo Domingo East, West and the National District, who are leading the emergency," said Caceres.
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He detailed that the work has been going on for between four and five hours since the incident originated, and noted that the type of establishment affected has made the extinction tasks difficult. "It's a hardware store where there are many chemical materials, plastics, woods, glues and other products that complicate the work of the firefighters a bit, but the fire is already almost 50% controlled," he explained. Regarding the number of employees who were at the scene at the time of the fire, Cáceres indicated that this information still needs to be confirmed, because it occurred during working hours. "It was a normal workday, so we need to find out how many people were present, and that will be done with the business owners," he pointed out. The coordinator also assured that no affected homes have been registered, although there have been cases of people impacted by smoke inhalation. "There is a dense cloud of toxic smoke, and some neighbors have had to receive assistance from the 9-1-1 system due to inhalation. They have been taken to places where the smoke does not affect them, but it hasn't gone beyond that," he pointed out. So far, the authorities have not provided an exact number of assisted residents, while control and cooling efforts of the affected area continue.
