Shopper calmly puts out electrical fire by throwing his FLIP-FLOPS at flames

An ice-cool shopper calmly put out an electrical fire - by throwing his FLIP-FLOPS at the flames.

Juvanie Castanares was walking around the mall in Davao City, Philippines, on Saturday (November 24) afternoon when he heard sparks coming from one of the columns.

Security guards began panicking - with one man seen running in the opposite direction to get help. A mother was also running away from the scene with her child in her arms.

But brave Juvanie calmly strode towards the fire and brushed aside one of the shopping centre staff. He first took off his right flip-flop and hurled it at the flames.

Father-of-two Juvanie then removed his left shoe and with one quick throw, extinguished the fire - saving the rest of the paper wrapping on the column from catching fire and potentially millions of pounds worth of damage had the blaze spread.

Speaking today, Juvanie said: ''I would do the same again. I knew the fire had to be stopped as quickly as possible. And sometimes you have to improvise.''

Fellow shopper Ron Moncada said he ''froze on the spot'' when he first saw the fire. He hailed Juvanie a ''superman'' for stopping the spread of the blaze.

He said: ''When I saw the bright flash I was scared. I thought it could be much worse. I didn't know what to do and some people were running away.

''Juvanie was like a hero, like a superman. He went over and killed the firer with his flip-flops. He's a star.''

The fire at the SM Ecoland Annex is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, which was sparked by too many cables from Christmas decor.