Fire Officer 3 Alex Marquez of the Caloocan City Fire Department identified those injured as Narciso Lasala, 40, and a certain Joreso, 21. Both are residents of C. Name street corner Fourth Avenue, Caloocan where five houses, which doubled as furniture shops, were razed.
Marquez said that a fire extinguisher rolled down from a roof, hitting Lasala on the head while Joreso sustained a cut on his leg as residents frantically tried to help responding firemen put out the blaze. Lasala was brought to the Ocampo Clinic while Joreso was taken to the Ospital ng Caloocan for stitches.
The fire started at around 3:30 p.m. and a fire-out was declared an hour later, Marquez said.
Senior Inspector Nestor Bagus, Caloocan fire chief, supervised the operation. He said some 25 firetrucks responded, six from the Caloocan station while the rest were Fil-Chinese fire volunteers.
If not for the firemen’s quick response, the fire could have spread and caused more damage.
According to Bagus, the houses along C. Name Street were mostly made of light materials. Moreover, furniture-making is a backyard industry in the area. – Nikko Dizon and Jerry Botial