The incident forced live shows at ABS-CBN TeleRadyo and ANC to go off the air mid-program.
A few minutes past 7:00 am today, in the middle of ABS-CBN TeleRadyo’s morning news show ‘Sakto’, a fire alarm was heard, forcing the program to go on a supposed break. However, Sakto, together with the whole of the TeleRadyo channel did not return as the program’s host Jeff Canoy confirmed on social media that they had to evacuate the building due to a fire incident inside the main building of the Kapamilya network.
Cut short was also ANC’s 7:00 am edition of ‘Rundown’, which interrupted anchor Mike Navallo’s interview with Mary Jane Veloso’s father. After a few minutes, it was also confirmed by the news channel that they will be completely pre-empting other live programs like ‘Headstart’ and ‘Market Edge’ for today. Lifestyle and religious programs were then aired to fill airtime, which were also simulcast on TeleRadyo’s cable feed as its DTT broadcast remained suspended.
Over at Kapamilya Channel, the interruption led to the channel airing a loop of adverts while things were being sorted out. Cinema One viewers, meanwhile, also reported that the movie channel had frozen in the middle of a film.
Cinemo, Jeepney TV, and Myx, were unaffected and continued airing programs as usual. A2Z, which originates from Zoe’s broadcasting facilities, also went on with regular programming.
According to a report of DZBB Super Radyo, the fire broke out from a kitchen inside the main building. Meanwhile, Kapamilya staffers have since been allowed to return inside the main building after an hour (8:00 am), but have experienced power outage because of the incident.
As of 11:30 am, the affected channels have restored their respective programming.
UPDATE: ABS-CBN reports that the blaze was caused by a faulty electrical outlet at the Knowledge Channel office located in the third storey of the main ABS-CBN building. Damages include a desktop, while some unused servers in the second floor were also said to have been affected but are still being assessed.
ANC and TeleRadyo have also aired ‘stripped down’ and abbreviated newscasts in light of the fire incident.