Tondo fire blamed on child’s play

The May 11 fire that razed a slum community in Tondo, Manila, has been blamed on child’s play.

This was the angle being looked into by the city’s fire investigators after witnesses reported that they saw a child playing with lighted candles before the blaze, which wiped out hundreds of houses in Isla Puting Bato.

More than 5,000 families were rendered homeless in the fire, which raged for several hours and forced residents to jump into the surrounding waters to escape the flames.

In a phone interview, Manila fire marshal Superintendent Felix Abrenica told the Inquirer that witnesses had surfaced, saying a child was seen playing with candles inside a house at Block 1, Purok 1.

This ran counter to previous reports that the fire started in the house of Arturo Salapudin in the same area.

“There was no blackout but the child was playing with candles. The flames may have touched a post or a curtain, which started the fire,” Abrenica said.