1 dead in fire

A man was killed in a fire that destroyed two houses at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City shortly before midnight on Wednesday. The body of 51-year-old Marcelino Sobrevega was found in a foxhole under his house at the corner of 4th and 9th Streets in Barangay 183, Zone 4 after the blaze was put out around 1 a.m. Thursday. The victim’s family said that he was drunk when he went to bed, leading Pasay fire marshal chief Insp. Douglas Guiyab to speculate that this was probably why he failed to wake up during the ensuing commotion after the fire broke out. The blaze started in the victim’s house at 11:25 p.m. on Wednesday, spread to the house beside it and reached the third alarm before it was put at 1 a.m. At least 10 people were left homeless while property damage was pegged at P300,000. Guiyab said that during clearing operations, they discovered a foxhole under the victim’s house which contained his body. “The area was once used as a storage area for ammunition in the air base,” Guiyab said. Jaymee T. Gamil