‘Muning’ gets blame as fire hits 140 homes

CASH AND ASH A Tondo resident left homeless by Saturday’s fire recovers her savings from among the debris. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

A fire that lasted almost five hours and destroyed about 140 homes in Manila early Saturday is being blamed on a not-so-sure-footed house cat.

“Initial findings showed that the cat accidentally tripped the gas lamp that was placed on top of a TV set in the second floor of the Warain house,” Insp. Shiela Tantiado of the Manila fire department said of the blaze that left an estimated 280 families homeless.

Tantiado, chief of the San Nicolas fire substation, said the fire started around 1:30 a.m. from the Warain household at Gate 20, Barangay 20, Zone 2, of Parola compound.

It spread quickly to other homes made of light materials and within 14 minutes reached Task Force Alpha, an emergency level that requires additional fire trucks from neighboring cities. Nobody was reported killed or injured and damage to property was estimated at P1 million.

Senior Insp. Marvin Carbonel, Manila Fire District Station 1 commander, said that the Warain family had been without electricity for a couple of months now, that’s why they were using a gas lamp.

“When barangay officials took in Gerald Warain (one of the house occupants), he told them that he was awakened by the (fire caused) by the fallen gas lamp and saw the cat,” said Carbonel. “He also said that they tried to put the fire out but they panicked.”

According to the Warains’ neighbors, the family kept a number of pets in their house, the official added.

THE PAROLA compound inferno raged for almost five hours because responding fire trucks had difficulty moving through heavy Manila traffic even in the wee hours. Joan Bondoc

Cristina Cabrera, one of the affected residents, said the flames could have been contained immediately by the men at the Warains’ place.

“But they panicked and rushed outside after the toppled lamp set their room on fire,” said Cabrera, a neighbor and mother of five.

The 22-year-old resident said she and her 4-month-old baby would have been burned alive if not for the infant’s cries that kept her awake minutes before the fire started.

Firefighters had difficulty moving into the neighborhood largely due to the traffic gridlock that develops around that time in the Tondo district whenever the city’s daily truck ban elapses, Tantiado noted. The strong winds also fanned the flames.

According to Cabrera, the occupants of the Warain house, who numbered about a dozen, made themselves scarce after the fire for fear that their neighbors would gang up on them. Rumor had it that some of them had already fled to Pampanga province, she said.

The homeless families have taken shelter at an evacuation center in Del Pan. Among them was the family of Marivic Soria, a Parola resident since 1986.

Soria said she wasn’t able to save anything from her house since she was still working at the Divisoria market when the fire struck.

Her son Noel, who lived nearby, was able to save two washing machines—but none of his family’s clothes, save for those he and his wife Analiza were wearing.