Fire kills 3; 4,000 families homeless

ALL FIRED UP Firefighters assess their plan of action as fire rages in the background at Barangay Apolonio Samson, Quezon City, on Thursday. Believed to have been ignited by firecrackers, it left thousands of residents homeless. LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines—Fires broke out as the nation welcomed a wet New Year with a bang, leaving at least seven persons dead and thousands homeless, arson investigators reported.

Three people were killed and around 4,000 families rendered homeless, in a six-hour fire that razed a community of informal settlers in the 2.3-hectare Kaingin Bukid compound at Barangay (village) Apolonio Samson in Quezon City at 6:45 a.m. Thursday.

Supt. Jesus Fernandez, Quezon City fire marshal, said the blaze started in a shanty owned by Janine Lopez along a creek. It reached general alarm at 8:10 a.m. before it was finally put out at 12:45 p.m. Fernandez estimated damage at P3 million.

In Malate, Manila, a 7-year-old boy perished in a fire that gutted several dozen houses.

Bureau of Fire Protection spokesman Renato Marcial told ABS-CBN TV network that at least 14 fires were reported across the country as Filipinos ushered in 2015 with raucous parties, according to the Associated Press. At least seven people perished in two of the fires, Marcial said, adding some of the fires were believed to have been caused by firecrackers, the AP said.

The fires raged under light daylong rain, enhanced by the northeast monsoon, weathermen said. The drenching is likely to continue through the weekend.

Elizabeth de Jesus, barangay chair at Apolonio Samson, said fire victims reported that the cause of the blaze was a firecracker called kwitis (skyrocket) gone awry.

Investigators were looking at two possible angles, De Jesus said. “The first is that there was a drunk man who lit the firecracker inside a house; the other that a leftover firecracker was playfully lit during a cleanup, and it accidentally rocketed inside a house.”

Killed in the Quezon City fire were Arnold Tusi, 50, Tirso Romano, 39, and Evangeline Nicosia, 16.

Fernandez noted the fatalities were either asleep, or were probably resting from the festivities of the night before.

Strong winds

Five people were also injured, including volunteer firefighter Paul Manuel who lost three fingers in gas tank blasts, De Jesus said.

About 90 percent of the shanties were razed, De Jesus said. The fire spread quickly because of strong winds, she said.

The fire left most residents, even those whose families were unscathed, lost and as to what awaits them this new year.

Lumen Oclares, who is five months pregnant with her third child, could only give a helpless shrug when asked where her family would go.

Oclares said she and her husband were both unemployed, and that their family’s hometown in Leyte province was “too far” away. Oclares said she grew up in Apolonio Samson.

The same uncertainty hounds the family of taxi driver Jerry Cielo, 54, a resident of the compound for 20 years. Cielo said he would have to take a break and rebuild his hut.

Cielo was on his way home from work when he heard on radio that there was a fire in his area. He rushed home and found that his wife and two children had evacuated.

“We were not able to save anything from the house. All we are left with are the clothes we are wearing,” Cielo told the Inquirer at the barangay covered court, where half of the fire victims were evacuated. The other half were relocated to the covered court of neighboring Barangay Masambong.

Boy left alone

At Malate district in Manila, Andrei del Rosario, 7, was killed and two others injured in a fire that broke out a row of houses at 2 a.m. on Thursday.

The Manila Fire Department said Del Rosario was alone in a locked house when the fire broke out. Jomar Sualo, 31, and Ryugi Tanaka, 22, suffered burns as they fled the blaze. Del Rosario’s charred remains were recovered after the fire, which reached third alarm, was extinguished around 3 a.m.

SFO4 John Joseph Jalique said the fire started at the house of a certain Sonia Hizon, along C.F. Muñoz Street, Barangay 735, and spread to 20 other houses.

Home goods store

Jalique’s report suggested that the blaze was caused by a firecracker that exploded near the houses, which then caught fire. Around P300,000 in valuables and properties were destroyed in the blaze.

In Makati City, fire hit a home goods store, the two-story Living ‘N Style building, on Don Chino Roces Avenue at Barangay Bangkal an hour before the New Year celebrations, causing damage worth about P3 million.

The blaze started at the employees’ canteen on the second floor and raced through the store for home furnishing goods, floor tiles, faucets and other fixtures, SFO1 Segundino Comon Jr. told the Inquirer. The fire was discovered by the building’s security guard, Aian Mark Madula, and two maintenance officers. Cause of the fire, which lasted more than an hour, was under investigation.

Comon said the second floor of the building collapsed after the fire.

No one was reported hurt. More than 20 firefighters were able to put out the fire before it could spread to the adjacent Home Depot building, which also sells housing improvement products.—With reports from Nathaniel R. Melican, Maricar B. Brizuela and AP

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