In the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, three fires have kept the authorities on edge, given the possibility that they are facing a serious situation that could cause a tragedy, not to mention the millions in material losses, and the authorities do not rule out that they may be related.
The first incident occurred on Saturday, September 28, when at approximately 1:00 p.m. a fire started that in a matter of minutes destroyed the Walmart store located at the confluence of the western peripheral and Guadalupe Avenue, in the El Colli Industrial neighborhood of Zapopan.
The losses were total, according to the authorities.
“Around 290 people were working here yesterday, 100 vehicles, both emergency and support, and we were working here at the point. This type of fire is quite complex, especially because of the size,” said the coordinator of firefighters and civil protection of Zapopan, Mario Alberto Espinoza, on that occasion.
The work to put out the fire in its entirety lasted for almost 24 hours, however, the expert reports continue a week later to try to determine the causes of the fire, and above all to confirm or rule out that it was an intentionally caused event.
The second fire came just five days later, on October 3, when the Zapopan firefighters had to go to a yard of the Ruza transport company because three of its trucks were on fire; this fire occurred 1.8 kilometers from the Walmart store that burned down the previous Saturday, also on the Periferico, but now at the height of Ayamonte Avenue.
“A fire broke out in a vehicle yard of this company in question, confirming the total consumption of three units, the fire spreading to a fourth. Upon arriving at the scene, our personnel focused on controlling the fire, preventing it from spreading,” said a Zapopan firefighter that day.
The last fire was this Friday, October 4, when the fire sirens went off again in the municipality of Zapopan, now in the City Club store on Clouthier and Patria avenues in the Jardines del Tepeyac neighborhood, which had been open for less than six months.
This store, which was also declared a total loss, is located 2.7 kilometers in a straight line from the Walmart that caught fire a week earlier and 3.7 kilometers in a straight line from the truck yard that caught fire the night before.
The fire at the City Club store caused the mobilization of dozens of firefighters from all over the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, who took several hours to put out the flames and prevent them from restarting.
“The fire was controlled at 3:00 in the morning. We were able to prevent it from spreading to the adjacent store. We are currently doing ventilation work,” said the coordinator of Firefighters and Civil Protection.
Three fires are being investigated if they are related
In an interview with the governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, said that the state prosecutor’s office and the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences are investigating to confirm or rule out the relationship between the three fires that occurred in less than a week.
“Any event of this nature has to be investigated to rule out that there is something else behind it. Hopefully it is just an accident, but we are going to investigate,” said the state governor during the inauguration of the October Celebrations.
This weekend, videos circulated on social media of an alleged Walmart store in which a fire was reported in the linen department.
The publications indicated that it was the Plaza Ciudadela branch in Zapopan, however, the Municipal Fire and Civil Protection Coordination indicated that the published video was not recent and corresponded to a store located in the north of the country.
The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Jalisco reported through its social communication office that investigations are continuing to confirm or rule out whether any of these three fires could have been caused.
For its part, the issue has proliferated among the population, which shares several hypotheses such as coincidences, the existence of a pyromaniac or that these are attacks by organized crime.
Source: latinus.us
