Arson or accident? QC fire still under investigation

Weeks before a fire in Quezon City on Sunday razed 230 houses and left 600 people homeless, barangay officials said they received threats from an anonymous texter believed to be a drug surrenderer.

“I will kill you and I will set your barangay on fire so that you will not have peace of mind,” went one of the sender’s text messages, Barangay Damayang Lagi chair Renato Tanyag told the Inquirer on Monday.

According to him, he and other barangay officials received the threats three weeks ago and reported these to the Galas police.

“Perhaps the fire could also be drug-related as our barangay is very active in conducting ‘Oplan Tokhang.’ No one has been killed yet but around 20 [drug suspects have] already surrendered,” Tanyag said.

However, he acknowledged that it was more likely that the blaze was accidentally caused by a resident who was cooking inside her room, based on a fire official’s report.

“If the suspect wanted to cause more harm, why [set off a fire] during daytime?” Tanyag said.

According to the report of Senior Insp. Joseph del Mundo, chief of the investigation and intelligence section of the Quezon City Fire Department, the blaze started in the house being rented by Jasmine de Guia at 246 E. Rodriguez St. at 2:46 p.m.

It quickly spread to nearby houses, reaching Task Force Alpha at 3:33 p.m. Firefighters said they had a hard time putting it out as the area was too congested and the road leading to it too narrow, said SFO4 Jose Felipe Arezza.

He added that another occupant of the house, a woman identified only as Heidi, has yet to be found.

The fire was placed under control at 5:20 p.m. and finally put out at 7:09 p.m.

It caused P1.5 million worth of damage as it destroyed around 230 houses and displaced 600 individuals.

Six people were injured in the blaze, including firemen SFO1 Ohedio Asoy, FO3 Paulito Pasco and SFO1 Edwin Liam Severino.