Fire razes 400 houses in Navotas

A least 400 houses were destroyed when a fire caused by an unattended candle broke out at a squatters’ colony in the coastal town of Navotas before dawn yesterday.

Senior Inspector Edgardo Antonio, the town’s fire marshal, said the blaze started at the house of one Jun Copida at around 3:19 a.m. in Barangay Daang Hari.

Flames spread rapidly, easily razing some 400 houses situated along the shoreline.

"The fire started at the room of Copida when a lighted candle toppled," FO1 Bernard Cabangbang told The STAR.

It took firefighters more than two hours to battle the blaze that reached Task Force Charlie. It was declared out at around 5:49 a.m.

Some 1,000 affected families are now housed at the Daang Hari Elementary School.

No one was reported hurt in the blaze, Cabangbang said.

Mayor Toby Tiangco, currently on vacation, called up the town’s disaster unit and the social welfare department to give full assistance to affected residents.