2 kids die in Navotas fire

A fire that started when a cat knocked over a gas lamp swept through a shantytown in Navotas past midnight yesterday, killing two children and destroying more than 400 homes.

Senior Fire Officer Domingo Castelo said an initial investigation showed the fire started in the house where the children were sleeping when a cat tipped over a kerosene lamp.

Most of the houses in the densely populated area are made of cardboard, plywood, or other scavenged materials.

Inspector Melchor Isidro, Navotas Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) officer-in-charge, identified the fatalities as Ronalyn Duban, 4, and her two-year-old brother Cedrick, of the Navotas Fish Port Compound in barangay North Bay Boulevard South.

According to Isidro, a fire reportedly caused by a fallen kerosene lamp broke out at the house of Orlando and Yolanda Duban at the fish port compound at around 1:26 a.m. The victims’ parents were both out of their house when the fire occurred.

Yolanda claimed she left the house for some fresh air while her husband was on the shore gathering shellfish, Isidro said. When the parents returned, their house was already enveloped in fire with their two children trapped inside.

"The blaze quickly spread and the victims’ parents can no longer do anything to save the children," Isidro said.

The fire lasted for almost five hours, destroying around 400 shanties in the area, before firemen with at least 23 firetrucks put the blaze out at around 6:06 a.m.

Carol Benzon of the local Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said the over 400 affected families are sheltered at the North Bay Boulevard South elementary school while others put up tents near the burned compound.

The municipal government sent relief goods and P1,000 each for the affected families, Navotas public information officer Jerry Doringo said. – With Jerry Botial, AP