H Mart blaze longest in decades

A fire that hit H Mart Wholesale on Middle Road in Gualo Rai at 2:55pm Saturday was only placed under control at 10am yesterday -about 19 hours later, making it the lengthiest structure blaze in the CNMI in the last two decades.

When Saipan Tribune left the scene at 3:10pm yesterday, the building was still belching out black smoke as firefighters continued spraying water into the center portion of the building.

Police officer Eric David, the unified command public information officer, said their preliminary investigation showed that electrical wiring was the possible cause of fire, and that no one was reported injured.

“Based on my experience this is the longest structure fire so far we have,” said David, who has been with the Department of Public Safety for 19 years.

Kwon Yong-Bum, one of the owners of H Mart, flew to Saipan from South Korea yesterday morning after one of their managers informed him of the blaze.

Saipan Tribune spotted Kwon arriving at the scene at 2:50pm accompanied by two H Mart Saipan managers. After observing firefighters for a few minutes, the group left.

Kwon, who is director of Heechang Group based in South Korea, said it was an unfortunate incident but that they are still happy that their employees are safe and that nobody else was injured.

He said they will need more time to rebuild the store so they will just look for another building to lease. “Almost all hotels here are our customers,” he added.

Witnesses said the fire started in the accounting office on the second floor of the building.

An H-Mart control manager said only three of the eight employees were inside the building when the fire broke out.

The manager said that one of the employees immediately called 911 after they noticed smoke coming out from the accounting office. The employees then ran outside the building.

Firefighters immediately doused the building with water but the fire quickly spread. Some explosions, believed to be triggered by cans of butane gas, were heard.

With thick smoke blanketing the vicinity of the highway, traffic officers rerouted the traffic flow at the intersection of Quarter Master Road and near Coastal Resources Management Office and Safety First office.

At the scene were two tankers, two fire trucks, and one forestry fire truck.

Firefighters prevented the blaze from jumping to the adjacent three-story commercial building occupied by Diamond Auto Parts, Korea Hardware, BBQ World, and Chong Hair Salon.

Firefighters were also able to stop the blaze from crawling to a tin house at the back of the building. The family occupying the house was safely evacuated with the assistance of the American Red Cross.

A brief drizzle past 9pm Saturday did not stop the fire from engulfing the interior of the building.

David said it took awhile for firefighters to control the blaze because they learned from the H Mart manager that a lot of butane containers were in the building.

The pressure at two nearby fire hydrants was also very low so tankers had to leave to reload their water supply, he said. When the tankers return, David said, the blaze would already be spreading again. He said it took time for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to reroute the water flow in order to utilize the two available fire hydrants at the scene.

The second floor of the building, he added, was also confined by shutters, making it hard for the water to get inside the building. The concrete ceiling of the building had already collapsed.

David said they had to close the highway until investigators deemed it safe to reopen the road. He said debris flying out into the highway caused by the explosions posed a danger to motorists.

“The closure of the highway is for the safety of motorists,” David said.

The closure prompted many nearby establishments to close until yesterday, including the Hailan Market and Oriental Dumpling Restaurant. X.O. Market, located in front of H Mart, continued normal operations.

David said the rain on Saturday night and a drizzle yesterday morning did not help stop the fire.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority provided assistance by refilling the firefighters’ oxygen tanks.

Kwon said when he first received a call about the fire, he was worried about their employees’ safety because many have been with the company for over 10 years already.

“The building is all gone. That’s okay as long as no one got hurt,” Kwon said.

He thanked firefighters, police officers, and other personnel from different agencies who assisted in killing the blaze and helped the affected families.

H Mart has over 40 stores in the U.S. mainland and five others in Canada.

H Mart has been operating on Saipan for 12 years now. It closed down its retail operation and concentrated on wholesale a few years ago due to the bad economy.

H Mart is short for “Han Ah Reum,” which in Korean means “One Arm Full of Groceries.” It is an Asian-inspired supermarket that started in 1982 in Queens, New York.