Caloocan BIR office, homes hit by fires on Christmas

An office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and a residential area were damaged by separate fires that struck just hours apart in Caloocan City on Christmas Day.

The fire at the six-story BIR Building on Edsa in Barangay (village) Calaanan started around 10:50 a.m. on the fourth floor and spread to the fifth floor before it was declared out an hour later, according to the city fire department.

Investigators initially placed the damage at P100,000 and were still determining the volume and type of records that were lost. They were also verifying reports at press time that the fire was caused by a faulty set of Christmas lights.

Later in the afternoon, firefighters responded to a second fire that broke out in a densely populated neighborhood on Don Antonio Street near C3 Road in Barangay 19.

The 3:30 p.m. fire also lasted for an hour and swept through seven homes. Damage was estimated at P200,000.

No one was reported injured in both fires. With Jamie Elona, INQUIRER.net