A drunken man who had fallen asleep was killed when a fire broke out in a highly populated area in Quezon City on Sunday night.
The blaze also destroyed around 50 houses worth P3 million, leaving 100
families homeless.
The fatality was identified as Romulo Francia, a 52-year-old welder, whose charred body was found by firemen conducting clearing operations.
Investigator SFO2 Fortunato Alde said the victim had no chance to flee as he was sleeping off a hangover in his apartment on Lorraine Street in Barangay Apolonio Samson.
The fire is believed to have been sparked by a lit candle that was left unattended on the ground floor of a two-story house located behind the victim’s apartment.
According to Alde, there was no electricity in the house owned by the Velasco family so they were using candles.
One of those residing in the house, Karen Velasco, told authorities that she woke up at 11:45 p.m. on Sunday and saw the curtains in the living room on fire when she went downstairs.
From there, the blaze quickly spread to neighboring houses which were made of light materials.
It reached the fifth alarm before firemen declared it under control at 12:30 a.m. yesterday but it took another hour before they managed to put it out.
Less than an hour later, another fire gutted a warehouse in Marikina City and destroyed property worth P200,000.
No one was reported hurt in the fire which started at 2:10 a.m. yesterday in the two-story structure located at the corner of JP Rizal and
P. de la Paz Streets in Barangay Sta Elena which was owned by businesswoman Rosalina Honoras.
Case investigator SFO2 Noel Alarcon said the blaze started near the roll-up metal door of the building which had closed down for the day.
It reached the third alarm and then spread to three nearby buildings which housed several commercial shops. Firemen extinguished it after two hours.
“Breaking into the building took time because the building was heavily padlocked,” Alarcon said.
All the plastics and Styrofoam products stored inside the warehouse were destroyed in the blaze.
Investigators of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Marikina City said they were still trying to determine what could have sparked the fire. Julie M. Aurelio and Niña Calleja