At least six people rescued were treated at the Southern Philippines Medical Center for unspecified injuries. By 5 p.m. PST, the fire disseminated to other parts of the mall. About two hours later, parts of the floor began to collapse due to the severity of the fire. BFP director for Southern Mindanao, Wilberto Kwan Tiu, who was the ground commander for the fire incident, said that 31 fire engines in total were deployed. He said that firefighters could not destroy parts of the building as it would have agitated the flames due to oxygen combustion. Instead, a fire protection engineering process called horizontal ventilation was used to allow the smoke to escape horizontally without extremely damaging the building. This allowed firefighters and other responders to slowly enter the building. Firefighters who had attempted to enter the building were forced to retreat as temperatures reached between 500 and 700°C, which was enough to liquefy equipment and gears. The relatives of occupants trapped inside the mall were situated at a restaurant across the mall. At this time, it was reported that 37 people were still trapped inside the building (later clarified to be 38), all of whom except for one were employees of the market research firm Survey Sampling International. At around 9:30 p.m. PST, approximately 12 hours after the fire started, President Rodrigo Duterte, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, and other officials arrived at the scene and met with the relatives as firefighting continued. By the end of the day, the fire was still out of control. On the morning of Christmas Eve, December 24, after receiving updates from members of the rescue units on the condition of the fire, President Duterte announced that those trapped inside the mall had a "zero chance of survival." At 5:15 p.m. PST, about 32 hours since the fire started, the BFP declared "fire out". Survivors of the incident have detailed their experiences on social media, which were collected by the Business Process Outsourcing Industry Employees Network (BIEN), a labor union representing business process outsourcing (BPO) workers in the Philippines. One survivor claimed that the emergency exits were impassable, while several others said that safety drills were never conducted. Some survivors also claimed that the mall's fire alarm system was not activated. Victims At around 8 a.m. PST, responders were able to recover the remains