1 injured as blaze hits restaurant in Binondo

A fire volunteer was injured in a 30-minute blaze that broke out in a restaurant in Manila Sunday morning.

Enrico Paule, a member of the Ongpin-Gandara-Tetuan Volunteer Fire Rescue Association, suffered an abrasion on the right cheek after some of the debris from the burning four-story establishment at the corner of Tomas Mapua and Ongpin Streets in Binondo fell on him.

SFO2 John Joseph Jalique of the Manila Fire District said that no one else was injured apart from Paule who was treated by responding medical personnel at the site.

Jalique said the fire started at 4:50 a.m. at the WTJ Restaurant owned by Benzon Chan. Smoke started billowing out from the third floor, prompting fire volunteers and Manila firemen to rush to the scene.

The fire reached the third alarm before it was put out at 5:20 a.m.

Arson investigators estimated the damage to property at P200,000 although they have yet to determine the cause of the blaze.