Several rooms on the fourth floor of a building on the University of Santo Tomas (UST) campus on España Boulevard, Manila, were damaged in a fire on Sunday night.
No deaths were reported but P3-million worth of property was lost when a blaze broke out in the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building used by the Faculty of Arts and Letters and the College of Commerce and Business Administration.
According to arson investigator SFO4 John Joseph Jalique, the fire started around 9 p.m. Sunday in Room 405 on the fourth floor. It reached the fourth alarm before it was put out about an hour later.
Jalique said that a deputy security commander who was not identified was treated for difficulty in breathing.
According to the Varsitarian, UST’s official student publication, and the Twitter account of the UST Central Student Council, the fire damaged other rooms housing several offices.
Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fire.–Andronico M. del Rosario with Nathaniel R. Melican