Drunks get in way of firefighters battling Tondo predawn blaze

Drunken men made it harder for firefighters to do their job when a blaze broke out early Sunday morning in Gagalangin, Tondo in Manila, leaving one man hurt and 70 families homeless.

Around four or five men who obviously had too much to drink, grabbed the hoses of firemen, cursed them repeatedly while demanding that their houses be doused with water first.

They also caused unnecessary panic when they told firefighters that a certain house was still burning. But when checked, it turned out to be a false alarm.

“They said it was on fire. But it was just smoke,” said Chief Insp. Marvin Carbonel, head for operations of the Manila fire department.

Carbonel said that, while the men’s behavior contributed to the chaos at the site, this was a quite common scenario in residential areas hit by blazes.

Authorities said Sunday’s fire, which broke out around 1 a.m. in Rizalino Sumang’s two-story house, was caused by an unattended candle.

Sumang suffered second degree burns after he helped his girlfriend and her siblings out of the house.

The flames spread quickly as the houses on Leyte and Laguna Streets were made of light materials. The only way to get to the area was through dark and narrow alleys, prompting firemen to climb over rooftops to get to the burning houses.

Damage to property was estimated at P150,000. The blaze reached the third alarm before it was put out at 3:40 a.m.