The fire which hit a 16-door apartment complex in Quezon City on Christmas Day and left seven people dead was most likely electrical in nature, authorities said Thursday.
According to Senior Supt. Bobby Baruelo, city fire marshal, “quick combustion” due to hot electrical wires may have caused the fire that killed the Filamor family in Barangay (village) Bungad.
A blaze which raged for an hour trapped the family and their housemaid inside their house on Rest Haven Street shortly after dawn on Tuesday. Seven charred bodies were recovered later in the day.
The remains were believed to be that of veterinarian Dr.
Carlos Filamor, his wife Corazon, their children Carlos Jr. and Eva, Eva’s two sons Miguel Andrei Mutuc and Mateo Aaron Mutuc and the Filamors’ helper Marina Ayon, 48.
The tenants in the other apartments managed to escape by climbing over a ladder or ramming the burning gate using a vehicle until it opened.
Baruelo said the electrical connections on the ground floor of the Filamors’ unit must have heated up simultaneously and burst into flames.
He added that the fire also spread easily because the other apartments were made of light materials which were “highly combustible.”
Baruelo earlier said that there were indications of a “jumper” or illegal power connection in the apartment complex.
As to earlier claims that a neighbor flew sky lanterns on Christmas morning, the fire official said this theory was not viable as a sky lantern needed few fuel to set it off.
Baruelo added there were no witnesses who confirmed that a lantern had landed on the Filamors’ apartment unit.
He noted that if a lantern had indeed landed on the roof, the fire would have started at the second floor of the house, not the ground floor.