18 houses razed in Mambaling fire

Eighteen houses were burned down, and one more house was partly burned by a fire that struck sitio Alaska in barangay Mambaling yesterday morning.

At least one person was reported injured but at least 200 people have been left homeless during the fire since no firetruck could enter the area. Firefighters had to connect hoses to reach the fire scene, about 150 meters from the main road of C. Padilla fronting the old Jai Alai fronton building.

Fire scene investigator, SFO2 Felix Romero, said that the injured person was Girlie dela Peña, who sustained minor burns while escaping from her burning house. The partly burned house belonged to Cleofe Dinagit, said Romero.

Romero said the fire started at around 6:22am and was declared initially at second alarm. City Fire Marshal Ismael Codilla then raised it to third alarm considering the inability of the firefighters to go near the scene and that most of the houses there were made of light materials.

Faulty electrical wiring and illegal wire tapping were among the possible angles that the city’s Bureau of Fire Protection investigators have been looking as the cause of the fire.

Romero said the fire started at the house owned by Adolfo Edaño and rented by the Managaytay couple who were not around at the time, and were reportedly visiting a relative in a hospital.

Investigators however could not yet determine how and where exactly from the house the fire started. Only the neighbors of the Managaytays claimed hearing bursts of spark from the house before flames started to rise.

More reports, a few days ago, stated that similar sounds were heard from the house, and many believed that those might have come from sparks of electrical wires.

There were also allegations from Managaytay’s neighbors that the power supply to the house came was illegally wiretapped, but Romero said this has to be confirmed yet.

Among those who responded to the fire were personnel from the city’s Bureau of Fire Protection; Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation; Fil-Chinese Fire Brigade and the Sto. Niño Fire Brigade Volunteers.

Codilla pegged the initial damage to property at about P320,000 although some reports stated that the amount might be higher that this soon after the inventory of damages is done.

The BFP would be conducting an investigation this Monday and would be inviting the Managaytay couple, witnesses and other people to shed light on the cause of the fire. 

Some of the fire victims are now housed in tents, while barangay social workers have been distributing food and clean water to them. The other victims were reportedly accommodated by their relatives and neighbors. — Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE