Malabon, Navotas hit by fire

Fires hit Malabon and Navotas over the weekend in northern Metro Manila, authorities reported yesterday.

The first fire recorded at about 6:15 p.m. Sunday, was a big brushfire that raged for nearly an hour before it was put out at 1091 McArthur Highway in Barangay Potrero, Malabon City.

SFO4 Job Santisteban, Malabon City fire bureau chief, said the fire took place at the area where an ice plant manufacturing plant previously stood before it burned down last Jan. 5, 2004. The fire was put out at about 7:05 p.m. before it could spread to nearby houses.

Santisteban said the P5-million ice plant, owned by a certain Edna Guzon, 60, was destroyed by a fire caused by faulty wiring.

In Navotas, the offices of a sardine canning firm was partially razed by a fire that broke out around 4:49 a.m. yesterday. Damaged was the four-storey building housing the Maunlad Canning Co., makers of Youngstown canned sardines, located along C-3 Road, North Bay Boulevard South (NBBS), Navotas.

SFO2 Zaldy Bajado of the Navotas Fire Station said the fire destroyed the entire third floor where used boxes were kept in the stockroom. – Jerry Botial