Senior Inspector Noel Cabacungan, Mangatarem deputy police chief, said no one was hurt in the fire that damaged the ceiling of the town hall’s second floor.
Cabacungan said the fire may have started at 11:30 p.m. Monday, when policemen on duty at the adjacent police station heard an explosion that shut down the power in the town hall.
“We immediately called the power company to check it. But when the linemen were checking it, they saw a smoke coming out of the ceiling,” said Cabacungan in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
He said it took firemen more than five hours to put off the fire because they had to tear down the ceiling to see where the fire was spreading.
He said seven fire trucks from neighboring towns helped local firemen control the fire.