Over 200 families homeless after fire hits Tacloban area
By Joey A. Gabieta
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 16:34:00 01/29/2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines -- A fire hit a depressed area here, razed 39 houses and left over 200 homeless late Monday afternoon, fire investigators said.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Gregorio de Guzman said that some witnesses blamed 65-year-old Ricardo Busano for the fire that occurred in Barangay 63, Mahayahay-Sagkahan district in Tacloban City.
"Based on the account of some witnesses, the fire started at the house of (Busano) when the lamp he had just lit fell to the floor, which resulted to the fire," De Guzman said.
De Guzman said they received the fire alarm at around 5:37 p.m. Monday.
Fanned by strong winds, the fire quickly spread to the other houses mostly made of light materials, De Guzman said.
He said Busano, who was allegedly under the influence of liquor but was still able to flee from the fire, sustained burns on his shoulders and left arm and was treated at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center.
The damage caused by the fire was initially estimated at almost P1 million, he said.
Aside from the Tacloban City fire station, other fire stations from the nearby towns of Palo and Tanauan, as well as the emergency medical service unit of the Bureau of Fire Protection, also responded to the alarm.
The fire victims, numbering 235, were either staying in tents set up within the village or staying with relatives and friends who live across the village.
The Monday fire was the first to hit the city this year. Last year, 22 fire incidents took place in the city, which resulted to property damage worth over P2.36 million and injured four people.
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