Fire hits part of PH National Archives building; archival collections safe

MANILA, Philippines — A building in Manila City, which also houses the National Archives of the Philippines, caught fire on Sunday.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said that the fire started on the sixth floor of the Philippine President Lines (PPL) Building on UN Avenue at 1:04 a.m. It quickly escalated into second alarm but was put out at 3:13 a.m.

The BFP is still investigating the cause of the fire.

Meanwhile, the National Archives has already announced that none of its collections were damaged.

“There was a fire in the administrative offices of the National Archives of the Philippines this morning. No one was hurt,” it said.

“The archival collections are safe as they are stored elsewhere,” it added.

The BFP estimated the total damages at around P800,000.

This is the second time the National Archives caught fire. In 2018, its old office in the Juan Luna Building in Muelle dela Industria St., Binondo, Manila also went ablaze after a fire broke out at a nearby building.

Its Archives Preservation Division restoration laboratory was affected by the fire but no important collections were damaged during the past incident.

SInce then, the National Archives transferred its offices to the Philippine President Lines (PPL) building.

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