Mina Palima of YTPI’s reception department said officials of her firm still had to estimate the damage of the fire which produced thick black smoke visible in the City of San Fernando 18 kilometers south.
“Production has been stopped,” she said. Top executives of the firm were in a meeting and were not available for interview pending investigations being done by the fire department of the state-run Clark Development Corp. (CDC).
CDC acting spokesperson Eric Jimenez said two YTPI workers, identified as Enrico Pineda and Randy Dizon, were brought to the nearby The Medical City after they suffered from “minor suffocation” as they tried to put out the fire.
Jimenez also cited initial findings that the fire could have been triggered by an “overloaded cable tray” that apparently caused an electrical short circuit.
The first firetruck to respond to the fire was from the Mabalacat City fire department. It was followed by firetrucks from CDC, Clark International Airport, Angeles City, Tarlac City, Bamban in Tarlac, Porac and Magalang and the Dee Hwa Leung Foundation in Pampanga. Firetrucks from farther places also arrived, including those from Taguig City, Office of Civil Defense and, Quezon City, as well as other volunteer fire brigades from various areas.
The fire was reported to have started at 3:15 p.m. Firemen declared a “fi re out” by 6:20 p.m.
YTPI was established here in April 1996 as a production center for tires to be exported around the world. It began production in 1998 with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tires. It has since continued to expand, increasing annual capacity to 7 million tires in 2006, 10 million in 2014, and its current capacity of 11.9 million tires.
With the recent completion of the West Plant, YTPI had announced plans to produce 12.5 million tires a year starting 2017. Its output includes passenger car tires and SUV tires, the majority of which is exported to Europe, North America, and ASEAN countries for sale in the replacement market, with the remainder being shipped for use as original equipment by car makers in North America and Asian countries.
