Senior Fire Officer 2 Felipe Caguing, arson investigator, said the fire which started at around 3:54 a.m. destroyed a 12-door apartment located at Hernandez Compound, Narra Street, Barangay San Martin de Pores. The two-story apartment building was made mostly of semi-concrete materials.
Caguing said a Kia Frego van and a Kia Pride car parked inside the compound were also burned. The two vehicles were owned by one of the tenants in the building identified as Peter Yebes.
Witnesses claimed that the fire originated in the van which probers said could have been set on fire by a lighted cigarette left inside the vehicle.
Caguing said, however, that they are still conducting follow-up investigation to ascertain the cause of the blaze which reached the fifth alarm.
Firetrucks sent by the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Brigade helped the Parañaque City firemen. The fire was contained around 6:19 a.m. No one was reported injured in the incident. — Rhodina Villanueva