BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Fire gutted at least 100 houses in a depressed area in Bacolod City shortly past noon Wednesday, a fire official said.
Chief Inspector Bartolome Biliran, Bacolod City fire marshal, said they received a call about the fire in heavily populated Barangay Banago at 12:08 p.m.
Fire fighters placed the blaze under control at 1:45 p.m., he said.
An initial estimate showed 100 houses in the neighborhoods of Katilingan and Kawayan destroyed by the fire but the figure could still go up, Biliran added.
Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, who went to the scene of the fire, said the affected families would be temporarily housed at the Domingo Lacson National High School.
Appeals were being made for donations of food and clothing for the fire victims.