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Fire engulfs XO Market’s container
Firefighters extinguish the fire that engulfed a container yesterday afternoon in a compound beside a commercial building, where the New XO Market is located along Chalan Pale Arnold Road in Gualo Rai. New XO Market owns the container. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the blaze. (Ferdie de la Torre)
A fire of still unknown cause engulfed a container filled with eggs and frozen goods in a compound beside the New XO Market along Chalan Pale Arnold Road in Gualo Rai yesterday afternoon.
Loud explosions were heard from the container, but no one was reported injured, Saipan Tribune learned.
Witnesses said the container belongs to the New XO Market, which owned the land where the container was located.
At present, New XO Market rents a commercial building in Gualo Rai.
Witnesses said the fire started at 4:45pm.
Firefighters controlled the blaze after a few minutes. While the blaze appeared to have been extinguished, at least two successive loud explosions occurred in the container at 5:15pm.
In October 2015, an accidental fire started in a trash bin located in the back of the building where XO Market is located. Investigators determined that the fire traveled to the second floor of the building, which had combustibles that ignited and intensified the blaze. The fire damaged the store’s generator compressor and burned two apartment rooms that were being renovated at that time.
