Blazes keep firemen busy in Malabon, QC

CLOSE QUARTERSEmergency tents in Manotoc Subdivision, Quezon City, provide temporary shelter to families from Barangay Baesa which lost their houses in a fire on Tuesday. —LYN RILLONi

MANILA, Philippines — Around 100 families lost their houses to a fire that razed a densely packed residential area in Barangay Ibaba, Malabon City, on Wednesday morning.

The city fire department reported no casualties or injuries  but more than 70 houses were reported destroyed. Damage to property was estimated at half a million pesos.

The blaze started in a three-story building on Dulong Herrera Street at 3:19 a.m. and was put out at 6:05 a.m.

SFO3 Richard Dionisio, Malabon fire chief, said the firefighters experienced a water supply problem and had a hard time going into the area because the only way to enter Dulong Herrera was through a one-lane street.

“We had to connect 12 hoses, each measuring 50 meters, to reach the fire,” Dionisio said.

A total of 52 firetrucks rushed to the scene but they could not get any closer than 500 meters.

Patria Agacaoili of the Malabon City Social Welfare and Development said the fire was caused by an unattended lighted candle as there was no electricity in the building where it started.

In Quezon City, two fires broke out on Tuesday afternoon and razed around 550 houses, displacing some 1,080 families.

No casualties were reported in both fires.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) placed damage to property in Barangays Baesa and Bahay Toro at P2.2 million.

Insp. Sherwin M. Peñafiel of the BFP said the fire on Mendez Road in Baesa destroyed 500 houses and dislocated 1,000 families, It started around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday and was put out by 11 p.m.

The fire on Sinagtala Street in Bahay Toro destroyed 50 houses and displaced 80 families. —With a report from Mariejo S. Ramos