Fire razes house of former QC vice mayor

Two persons were injured when the ancestral home of former Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista and eight other houses were razed by a fire in Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, yesterday afternoon.

Fire Officer 1 Ordeo Oson Jr. and Cesar Gatela, of the Quezon City Fire Rescue Team, suffered minor injuries during the incident. Gatela was treated at the East Avenue Medical Center for the two-cm. deep wound he suffered in one foot.

Fire probers said the blaze started at around 2:30 a.m. at the second floor of the Bautistas' residence located at the corner of E. Rodriguez Avenue and New York street, in Barangay Immaculate Concepcion.

The fire engulfed the five-door, two story apartment, and other houses nearby.

Herbert's parents Butch and Baby, Herbert's grandmother and his brother, Hero, also a former actor, live in the two-story house. They were brought to safer ground after the fire broke out.

Bautista, actor-turned -politician, has been living independently from his parents.

Prior to the fire, neighbors heard a loud explosion from the second floor of the Baustistas' residence. The ground floor was being utilized by the family's restaurant business.

Fire marshal Superintendent Carlito Romero said the fire was considered "confined" at 3:40 p.m.