An old building with a shop on the ground floor and the upper two floors used as the shop owners’ home, i.e., a shophouse, on Rua de Cinco de Outubro (十月初五日街), caught fire on Friday morning, the Fire Services Bureau (CB) said in a statement later that day.
The statement said that a 78-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife living in the building felt unwell after inhaling smoke and were taken to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre for treatment.
The couple own and operate a shop selling electrical appliances, Kuong Chi Electrical Appliances (廣志電業公司), on the ground floor and live above.
The three-floor building is located next to Nam Ping Café (南屏雅敘), a famous cha chaan teng (traditional Hong Kong and Macau-style café) in the city.
According to the statement, the fire broke out in the shop at around 8 a.m. on Friday, before it finally spread to the building’s second floor.
Firefighters rushed to the scene and brought the blaze under control within 20 minutes, before completely extinguishing it in 40 minutes, the statement said.
Afterwards, the firefighters continued to hose down the building, i.e., 87 Rua de Cinco de Outubro, with the aim of lowering the temperature.
The statement said that a short circuit in a fluorescent lamp in the shop was the possible cause of the fire.
Several dozen residents living near the building self-evacuated during the fire, the statement said.
According to local media reports, the 61-year-old woman discovered on Friday morning that a fluorescent lamp was on fire and attempted to put it out but in vain, after which she and her husband ran out of the building.
According to the statement, the bureau sent nine fire engines and ambulances with 37 firefighters and paramedics to the scene for the operation.
A section of the street was closed to traffic during the fire-fighting operation.
The 600-metre-long Rua de Cinco de Outubro in the Inner Harbour area features a number of old and traditional shops.
According to the “Macau Memory” website, which is run by the public Macau Foundation (FM), the owner opened Kuong Chi Electrical Appliances in 1960 on Rua de Cinco de Outubro. The business was later run in several other shops in the street, before it finally relocated to the current shop, 87 Rua de Cinco de Outubro.
This photo released by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) on Friday shows firefighters battling a blaze in a shophouse on Rua de Cinco de Outubro that morning.
