300 FAMILIES DISPLACED: Fire hits QC slums

Fire hit a squatters area in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City, rendering some 300 families homeless. No one was was reported dead or injured.

Arson investigators said the fire at the corner of Araneta and E. Rodriguez avenues, which started at 7:55 a.m. and lasted for two hours, was caused by faulty electrical wiring.

The blaze spread rapidly to adjacent houses, which were made of wood and flammable materials. Arson probers, however, were quick to rule out the fire was triggered by last Friday’s Luzon-wide blackout.

Power supply in most Metro Manila areas were restored Friday evening but some areas in the National Capital Region got theirs only last Saturday.

Big fires also hit Makati and Baclaran last Saturday, reportedly as a result of the power outage, specifically after the sudden surge of electricity.

Damage in the Tubog Banua and Macda compound along J.P. Rizal extension in Barangay Cembo, Makati, where 300 houses were also burned, was placed at P5 million.

The fire that hit the Mega Plex Commercial Center at the Baclaran LRT Terminal in Parañaque City destroyed goods sold at stalls inside the business establishment. Damage was placed at P150 million on the 11-hour blaze.

BFP to probe Baclaran fire

Was it arson? This is the question the Bureau of Fire Protection wants to know about the Baclaran fire.

Superintendent Antonio Agner, director of the BFP District III (Southern Metro Manila), said they will summon all the mall guards to shed light on the incident.

Agner added the testimonies of the duty guards are vital to the investigation because they were present when the fire broke out. Reports have it the security guards prevented responding firemen from entering the premises for still unknown reasons.

"Because of the delay of the firefighters, the fire destroyed millions of property that could have been saved had these guards cooperated with the firemen," he said.

About 300 stalls were burned by the fire that started around 2 a.m. on Oct. 21. Two firemen were hurt in the incident.

Agner said they would coordinate with the Pasay City policemen detailed at the Pasay City and Parañaque boundary, a police post located a few meters away from the mall.

"We need their (police) help to get to the bottom of the incident," he said.