Houses, school library razed in Caloocan fire

School and residential properties worth at least a million pesos went up in smoke during  an hour-long fire  in Caloocan City Thursday  morning.

Six classrooms and a library of Gomburza Elementary School were among those destroyed in the fire which started around 9:30 a.m. from the house of a certain Regie San Miguel at the corner of Malonzo and Samsom Roads at   Masagana Compound.

Residents scrambled  to save their belongings as about 30 responding fire trucks occupied the streets, snarling traffic for a few hours.

The fire was put out at exactly 10:49 a.m.

Edgardo Agapito, 18, sustained cuts in his right knee after trying to carry a bulky refrigerator away from their burning house, said SFO4 Randy Resureccion, head of the arson investigation unit in  Caloocan.

The thick smoke in the neighborhood prompted  school officials to send home around 2,000 pupils of the elementary school. Classes remain suspended until Friday.

Children first

School principal Jocelyn Navarro said they secured the children away from harm first before bringing out what could be saved.

“What saddens us is the fact that most of our textbooks are now gone,” Navarro said.

She added that they still had to find temporary quarters for their classes.

Resureccion said at least 30 families also lost their houses which were mostly made of light and combustible materials.

“That was one of the reasons the fire  quickly crossed over to the school building,” he said.

Arson investigators are looking into two possible causes of the fire: A cooking stove left  unattended or an electrical system had an overload.

“We haven’t talked to the owner of the house where the fire began,” Resureccion said.