David Darmanin
Firemen battled with flames for about two hours yesterday afternoon, at the Pender Place construction site in St Julian’s after concrete shutters caught fire, spreading the blaze to an entire storey and other parts of the building.
Security personnel and police officers on site would not give out any details to the press, although a Penderville employee said that every person on site was evacuated and nobody suffered injuries. A Civil Protection medic was seen assisting a person.
The fire broke out after the concrete shutters – the plywood moulds used to build concrete structures – caught on fire at about 4pm. The reason why the shutters caught fire is still unknown.
Sources told this newspaper that although an inquiry would determine the cause of the fire, it could be possible that the culprit was a blowtorch used while laying out membrane. “This happens, although on very rare occasions,” a civil engineer said. “Further investigations would of course shed light on how the fire spread so extensively and over what time period.”
Neighbours said they heard no explosions, and only learnt about the incident upon hearing the commotion of the police, ambulances and civil protection.
The fires were extinguished by 6pm.
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