The elevation of Davao into a city during the Commonwealth greatly increased the activities at Santa Ana wharf whose premises and adjacent areas hosted the biggest number of warehouses anywhere in the region, mainly hemp bodegas stacked with abaca for export.
On April 26, 1938, a fire that struck at 5:30 PM destroyed the International Harvester Company (IHC) warehouse though its true cause was unclear. Over 15.000 bales of abaca were burned and damage reached P360,000, including the value of machinery and equipment incinerated.
Davao City mayor Santiago Artiaga immediately wired Elpidio R. Quirino, the interior secretary, on the status of the incident, telling him that no relief was needed momentarily.
The initial inquiry conducted by the Philippine Army and the Davao City police indicated the accident could have been caused by a faulty electrical installation or intentionally started by a laborer. Witnesses said the flames commenced from the upper floor of the building, while others claimed it started in the bodega which was at the time already closed.
It was, according to the accounts of the day, one of the biggest to hit the city in decades.
The Tribune, national broadsheet, reported a day later: “BLAZE SWEEPS DAVAO PIER.”
“Hundreds of thousands of pesos went up in smoke late yesterday afternoon when a fire of unknown origin broke out in the Dort area of Davao, Davao, occupied by large warehouses of leading Manila business houses.
“The bodega of the International Harvester Company of the Philippines, one of the largest in the district, was razed to the ground. Reports of the conflagration were received by the main office here of the company and the bureau of posts.
“The Pacific Commercial Company bodega, which is nearest to the International Harvester warehouse, and those of Hanson. Orth and Stevenson, incorporated, the Mitsui
“Bussan Kaisha, Columbia Rope, and the bureau of public works, were threatened by the flames at 7 o’clock last night, when the last word was received by the bureau of posts from the Davao postmaster.
“Strong winds blowing at 7:30 last night aided the rapid spread of the flames. The Davao City fire fighting apparatus purchased since the inauguration of Mayor Santiago Artiaga as put to a rigid test. “Policemen performing the extra work of foremen battled to combat flames.”
Two and a half years later, another big fire hit the port area, this time burning the bodega of Hanson, Orth and Stevenson, Inc., a hemp-exporting company, with property damage estimated at about P200,000.
The fire, which endangered the entire waterfront, was relayed to Manila at 6:30 PM on November 11, 1940, through the postmaster in Davao whose office was around a kilometer away from the port area, stating:
“At 6 p.m. we began evacuating the receiving station in Santa Ana due to the big fire in the International Harvester bodega which was totally burned now. The adjoining buildings are still in danger due to changes in the course of the strong winds at 7:30 p.m. Our files, records and cash are safe as well as other articles. Office still safe.”
Fortunately, the incident was shortly placed under control with help from the heavy rain.
F. L. Laurence, vice-president and manager of the firm, who received the report of the fire, said the company’s stock of fiber in the warehouse was not very big.
An account carried by The Tribune, a national broadsheet, reported that abaca worth Pl50,000 in 4,156 bales and in loose fiber was burned, excluding the value of the recently built building.
