9 dead in Makati, Caloocan fires

Nine persons, mostly children, perished yesterday in separate fire incidents in Caloocan City and Makati City yesterday.

First to be hit was an apartment in Bangkal, Makati, where a 47-year-old landlady and her four children were trapped. The Makati Fire Department said the incident took place at 1:15 a.m. along Estrella street.

SPO4 Leonardo Timtiman, officer-in-charge of the homicide division of the Makati police, identified the fatalities as Luzviminda Dizon, 47, and her four children Diane, 11; Jaypee, 10; Bebot, 8; and Princess, 4.

Initial investigation conducted by the police revealed that the victims were all sleeping when the fire broke out.

A neighbor, identified as Hardy Benitez, said he heard a loud thud at the time of the incident and went out of his room to investigate.

When he went out, he saw the apartment of his landlady on fire and immediately rushed back inside his house to wake up his family.

Benitez told the police that he last saw her landlady alive the other night during the occasion of her birthday.

The fire reportedly started from a leak from a liquefied petroleum gas tank located inside the kitchen of the Dizons.

All five victims were trapped inside their apartment as the two exits were blocked by flames. The father was in Cebu City when the incident took place.

The Makati Fire Department was able to contain the fire 30 minutes after it started.

The fire was the second in a week, with the first taking place last Saturday in a squatters’ area beside the Makati City Hall.

In Bagong Barrio, Caloocan, a family of four, including a four-month-old baby girl, were killed when a fire reportedly caused by an unattended kerosene lamp razed their two-story house before dawn.

Police identified the victims as Elmira Capigo, 33, and daughters Maria Lena, 9; Lery Mae, 5 and four-month-old Lelocia, all of 9 Batangas alley corner Intan street.

Arson investigators found the victims in a tight embrace under the blackened debris of the roof, which fell on them as they tried to escape their burning house.

Their bodies were burned beyond recognition when firemen extricated their bodies from the debris, arson investigator Fire Officer 1 Marcelino Espiso, said.

According to Espiso, at about 2:55 a.m., Elmira’s husband, Francisco, woke up and went out of their house to throw garbage at a nearby dump.

As they had no electricity, Francisco first lit their kerosene lamp and left it at the corner of the room where the victims were sleeping.

When Francisco came back moments later, their entire house, made of wood and light materials, was already engulfed by fire, Espiso said.

" He couldn’t do anything to save his family because of the flames," Espiso said.

Responding firemen put out the blaze at around 3:25 a.m., preventing it from spreading to neighboring houses. – With Pete Laude