Banawe building razed

Another fire struck a commercial building yesterday morning in Banawe, Quezon City, leaving firefighters in a daze, this being the third blaze in less than a week that has hit the city.

Jess Uy, owner of the Ford Land Auto Supply, claimed that fire gutted his three-story building and that over P1.5 million in property was lost.

The auto supply shop, located at 45 Banawe St., corner Kitanlad, Quezon City, went up in flames from a reported faulty electrical wiring in the building’s third floor – the stock room.

The fire started at about 8:35 a.m. and reached the fourth alarm level before being declared out an hour later. No deaths or injuries were reported in the incident.

According to FO3 Ernesto Escondo, the case is still under investigation to determine the real cause of the fire. But he said that it could be faulty electrical wiring in the stock room.

Escondo added that firefighters in the metropolis are weary because of all the fires that have hit Quezon City – three in five days.

The pre-dawn blaze at the Manor Hotel in Kamias last Saturday killed 78 people, and the fire in a squatter’s area in Tatalon injured at least three people including two children.

Meanwhile, a 37-minute fire, of still unknown origin, partially damaged a three-story residential and commercial building in Quiapo, Manila, yesterday morning.

Nobody was reported hurt or killed in the blaze that reached the fifth alarm.

Reports from the Manila Fire Department’s Arson Division said the fire struck the building that houses the Laily Food Center at 446 Quezon Boulevard at about 9:13 a.m.

According to fire investigators, the blaze started at the third floor of the building where bakery equipment and supplies are being kept. The building’s owners were identified as Virgilio and Espiritu Chan while the occupant was identified as Evelyn Chen. – Matthew Estabillo and Mike Frialde