1 hurt as fire hits Antipolo school

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MANILA, Philippines – Teachers in a school in Antipolo City are faced with a major problem after a fire struck one of their buildings early Monday: How do they give out their report cards on time?

The cards, authorities said, were kept in the faculty room of the two-building Lady Charity School, a pre-school and elementary institution located in Barangay San Luis.

The faculty room was completely destroyed by the fire, which began before 6 a.m., SF01 Gerardo Lopez, arson investigator, said.

Lopez said that based on interviews with the teachers, graduation ceremonies had already taken place on Saturday, but that the report cards of students had yet to be distributed.

“All those records are gone already. The entire building was destroyed,” Marco Albaño, a responding volunteer of the city’s fire brigade, said.

Aside from the faculty room, Lopez said a library, a kitchen and a stage, among others, were engulfed in flames.

The blaze, which only reached the first alarm, was put out at 6:45 a.m.

Authorities initially estimated the damage to property at P500,000, but the figure, Lopez said, could have been less if the fire had been reported earlier to them.

According to him, it was the city hall that reported the fire after an employee happened to pass by the area and saw the smoke.

“The school doesn’t have a security guard,” Lopez explained.

FO1 Allan Onte, a responding fireman, added it took some time for the blaze to be put out because they had a difficult time penetrating the building.

He said  only two doors could be used as points of entry and exit because all the windows of the building had grills on them.

While there were no fire-related casualties, Lopez said a local firefighter, Wilfredo Padlan, had to undergo treatment after he stepped on nails as he tried to put out the fire.

Authorities are looking at a short-circuit in the kitchen as the cause of the blaze.

Originally posted at 08:09 pm | Monday, March 25, 2013