Manila, Navotas slums burn down

TAMBUNTING FIRE: A helicopter using a heli-bucket helps in putting out the fire that struck a slum area on Tambunting Street in Manila Sunday.

OVER a thousand families lost their homes in fires that struck slum areas simultaneously in Manila and Navotas City on Sunday.

Chief Supt. Leonard Bañago, head of Bureau of Fire Protection-National Capital Region, said Rafraf Rodea, a resident of Tambunting Street in Manila, was being investigated for arson after the inferno that engulfed about 50 homes in the area was traced to the three-story house he was renting.

No one was hurt in the Manila fire that started around noon and damage to property was estimated at P3 million.

Around the same time in Navotas, strong winds fanned the flames that spread across a shantytown in Barangay Tanza. Supt. Crisfo Diaz, chief of the city fire department, said the fire started from the house of Juanito Encarnado on Amapola Street around 11:20 a.m.

Like in Manila, there were no reported injuries in the Navotas blaze where losses were estimated at P5 million.