After seven days of intense work, the National Directorate of Firefighters finished this Saturday the tasks related to the fire that occurred in Punta Shopping. This incident began in the early hours of Saturday, August 6, and since then the National Fire Department has worked constantly to establish the security conditions for entering the premises. According to a statement from the Directorate itself, cooling and removal tasks were carried out and tours throughout the shopping center, in addition to inspections by an Architect and a Fire Engineer, together with professionals from the shopping center, in order to establish the conditions of the building structure. Finally, at 11:30 yesterday, the Punta Shopping was handed over to its managers with a series of “points”. For post-incident actions, Firefighters established three sectors based on the damage caused by the fire:
• Sector «A» or green zone: Corresponds to the southeastern end of the Shopping Mall and it is the sector that Firefighters managed to prevent from being affected. In this sector, entry is authorized for cleaning and conditioning.
• Sector «B» or yellow zone: It is a neutral or intermediate zone where there was damage due to excess temperature and/or combustion gases. In this area, pertinent actions must be analyzed by the qualified technical personnel of the shopping mall.
• Sector «C» or red zone: It is a critical zone with risk of imminent structural collapse and with parts of the building structure collapsed. The entrance to the place is not authorized, and the structure must be demolished by Punta Shopping SA and Tienda Inglesa with the due action plan and permits before the Intendancy and MTy SS
The statement adds that when the demolition begins, Firefighters must be notified so that they can act if necessary. In addition, it warns that the three sectors mentioned must be kept delimited from each other. On the other hand, it is pointed out that the entrance to the authorized sectors must be carried out wearing personal protection equipment such as helmets, glasses, work clothes, gloves, safety shoes, among others. In addition to what is established, immediate corrective actions must be carried out with respect to the electrical installation (in coordination with UTE), water installation (with OSE), LPG installations or other fuel (with the respective supplier). Prior to the presentation of the work plan, the company must rely on qualified technical personnel for any repair, cleaning and/or restoration of electricity, gas service, fuel or any other activity.
exclusion zone
On the other hand, Firefighters delimited an exclusion zone, not suitable for circulation, in the streets that are detailed below: Calle Los Alpes: from Av. F. Roosevelt up to 50m past the intersection with Calle Viena. San Francisco Street: from Los Alpes Street to Autopro and Vienna Street: to the intersection with Taiwan Street.
