Fire razes houses behind oil depot

MANILA, Philippines - A one-hour fire gutted about 15 houses located behind the controversial oil depot in Pandacan, Manila yesterday.

In a phone interview, Fire Officer 2 Lords Hernandez told The STAR the fire broke out at the ground floor of Salome Baldonado’s one-story house along Alley 3, Peter Paul street at 12:52 p.m.

He said the fire quickly razed adjacent houses, majority of which were made of wood. Firefighters pegged the damage to property at P1 million.

“We are still investigating the cause of the fire which reached the fourth alarm,” Hernandez said.

He also said at least 80 firefighting units, including 60 units from fire volunteer groups, rushed to the fire scene to prevent the fire from spreading further.

“The response was full-force because the oil depot needs to be secured,” he said. The country’s three largest oil firms – Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines, Inc. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. – share the depot.

Hernandez said Petron’s 10 built-in fire pumpers were also utilized to help put out the fire.

He said the large number of firetrucks triggered a traffic gridlock on all the roads leading to fire scene.

No injury or casualty was reported in the fire, which rendered about 50 families homeless. The blaze was put out at 1:42 p.m.