Fire displaces 230 families in Malate

Firemen battle a blaze on Leveriza Street that prompted DLSU officials to cancel final exams for students. –EARVIN PERIAS

Around 230 families were affected in a fire that was initially reported as deliberately set by a man with a grudge against a family member in Malate, Manila, on Thursday afternoon.

Police Maj. Rosalino Ibay Jr., chief of the Manila Police District’s (MPD) Special Mayor’s Reaction Team, said that the man was taken into custody by MPD Station 9 policemen although he was released after questioning. The cause of the fire was later traced to an illegal electrical connection.

The initial report from the Manila Fire District (MFD) showed that the blaze broke out at the fourth floor of a four-story building on Leveriza Street at 11:58 a.m. It spread to nearby houses, including several apartments where many employees of nearby malls were renting rooms.

The fire reached the fifth alarm around 12:30 p.m., also prompting officials of De La Salle University (DLSU) on Taft Avenue to call off the final examinations for students and suspend offices at 1 p.m. Around 2 p.m., firemen declared the blaze under control.

Photos tweeted by DLSU students showed that the smoke from the fire could be seen from within the campus.

Affected families were evacuated to the Barangay 718 basketball court. Fire Insp. John Joseph Jalique, chief of the MFD’s intelligence and investigation section, said that as of 4 p.m., no one had been reported injured or killed due to the incident.