A fire reportedly set off by children playing with a lighter displaced around 50 families in an informal settlers’ community in Ermita, Manila, Tuesday morning.
The fire also damaged a nearby pension house and destroyed around P1.5 million worth of property. Manila Fire District personnel said that the blaze was the third in recent years to hit shanties built on the lot between Guerrero and M.H. del Pilar Streets, near the corner of Padre Faura Street.
Arson investigator Senior Fire Officer 2 John Joseph Jalique said the fire started at 8:05 a.m. at the ground floor of a two-story house at 1323 Guerrero street being rented by Evelyn Villanueva. Jalique added that the blaze might have begun in the kitchen before it spread and destroyed 20 shanties.
The fire also damaged the fourth floor of Chillout Guesthouse in the Lucky 888 Building on M. H. del Pilar Street, prompting guests to evacuate. It reached the fifth alarm before it was put out at 9:40 a.m.
Jalique said they were still checking claims that the blaze was set off by a group of children playing with a lighter.—Jeannette I. Andrade