14 fire incidents nationwide mar New Year revelry

MANILA, Philippines — Fourteen incidents of fire nationwide kept personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) busy overnight as the nation welcomed the New Year.

In an interview over dzMM on Thursday, BFP spokesperson Chief Inspector Renato Marcial said, however, that most of the incidents were ”minor”.

Marcial said only two of the incidents were considered big.

One of them happened in the early hours of January 1 when fire swept through 800 houses in a shanty community in Barangay (village) Apolonio Samson in Quezon City, killing a woman and injuring two other people, including a fire volunteer.

The fire that reached General Alarm lasted for six hours. It was declared out at 12:45 p.m.

The other one broke out in Barangay (village) 735 in Malate, Manila, at around 2 a.m., or just two hours after the height of New Year revelry in the area.

The fire killed a seven-year-old boy who was trapped inside their burning house. Authorities were still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

On New Year’s eve, the warehouse of The Home Depot in Barangay Bangkal in Pasong Tamo, Makati City caught fire. No casualties were reported but the fire reached fifth alarm before it was contained at 1:22 a.m.

In Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, two residential areas were separately razed by a New Year’s eve fire in Barangay Labangon and Barangay Puerto, respectively.

No injuries were recorded on both incidents but the fire in Cebu reached Task Force Alpha, which means more than 20 firetrucks rushed to the area to put out the blaze.