Navotas fire leaves 100 families homeless

MANILA, Philippines - At least 100 families lost their houses during a noon fire reportedly caused by an overheated electric fan in Navotas City on New Year’s Day.

FO2 Amado Ignacio, of the Navotas City fire department, said the blaze lasted for about 43 minutes and destroyed an estimated P1.2 million worth of property.

Ignacio said the fire started at the second floor of Loreta Nantesa’s house on Road 10 in Barangay North Bay Boulevard South at around 11:24 a.m.

“The conflagration was reportedly triggered by an overheated electric fan left unattended in a room at the second floor of Nantesa’s house,” Ignacio told The STAR yesterday.

The fire quickly spread and gutted some 20 houses made of light materials before firemen on 54 fire trucks – seven from the Bureau of Fire Protection and 47 from different fire volunteer groups – put it out at about 12:07 p.m.

Ignacio said five persons sustained minor burns.

“The area is a squatters’ colony where houses were built of materials that burn easily,” Ignacio said.

He said residents are “careless” because several fires had already occurred in the same area.

Navotas firefighters have only three fire trucks for the city’s 14 barangays.