1 hurt, 2 fires gut 100 houses, 12 stalls in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—A fire fighter was injured while nearly 360 people were displaced when more than 100 houses and other structures were gutted during two separate fire incidents here on Friday and Saturday.

Supt. Dominador Zabala Jr., the city fire marshal, said arson investigators were looking at “two items left unattended, a charged cellular phone and a flat iron” as probable causes of the fire incidents.

The first fire on Friday gutted more than 100 houses in Barangay (village) Canelar. “Most of the houses were made of light materials,” Zabala said, placing the damage at about P5 million. He said fire fighter Ramon Tolentino was slightly injured in the Canelar fire.

Elmer Apolinario, city assistant administrator, said they had listed 358 people affected by the Canelar fire.

In the fire in Barangay Upper Calarian early Saturday, 12 stalls were razed. Zabala said the Upper Calarian fire victims also claimed that power had tripped off and abruptly returned before the fire broke out.—Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao