Fire displaces 20 families in Quezon City

A firefighter sustained cuts and minor burns in a fire that reached the fifth alarm and left around 20 families homeless in Quezon City Wednesday morning, according to the city fire marshal.

Quezon City Fire Marshal Bobby Baruelo said that Senior Fire Officer 2 Rio Fernando was one of the first firemen who rushed to the site of the blaze—the corner of Road 1 and Road 8 in Barangay (village) Bagong Pag-asa—at 10:05 a.m. Wednesday.

The firefighter was hurt when he tried to break a glass window so that he could spray water inside a burning house, Baruelo added.

According to the fire official, Fernando accidentally touched a live wire and sustained minor burns even though he was wearing gloves.

Fernando was taken to the East Avenue Medical Center for treatment.

Except for Fernando, no other fireman or resident in the area was injured, Baruelo said.

The fire was declared under control at around 10:45 a.m. and put out at 11:32 a.m.

But before that, it destroyed at least 10 houses and apartments whose value were estimated at around P4 million.

Baruelo explained that they found it hard to combat the fire, which reached the fifth alarm, because the structures in the area were mostly made of light materials.

As a result, the flames spread quickly from one house to another.

Baruelo said that their investigation into the cause of the fire was still ongoing although they had determined that it started at the second floor of a house owned by Lourdes Magno.