Fire razes 2 gov’t offices in Pagadian

Flames engulf the offices of two national government agencies in Pagadian Thursday evening, Feb. 27. Photo by Leah D. Agonoy, Inquirer Mindanao

PAGADIAN CITY –– The offices of two national government agencies here were razed Thursday evening in a fire that lasted at least four hours.

The fire gutted the offices of the Bureau of Local Government Finance of the Interior Department and the Department of Agrarian Reform, which are located near each other along FS Pajares Avenue.

Engineer Richard Fabria, action officer of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said firefighters were able to control the blaze from spreading towards other adjacent offices of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, Office of Parole and Probation Administration of the Justice Department, and a convention center managed by the Liga ng mga Barangay of Pagadian City.

Fabria disclosed that no employee was around the BLGF office when the fire broke out.

He said that before the fire, DAR employees started putting together all their documents for their planned transfer to another building in Barangay Dao.

City Fire Marshall Dionisio Cayudong Jr. said they were still investigating how and where the fire started./lzb