Fire breaks out at City Hall

At the height of festivities welcoming the Chinese New Year the other night, fire broke out at the office of a judge at the third floor of the Manila City Hall’s south wing.

The fire started at around 10:35 p.m. in Room 363 of the Taft Wing, where Judge Guillermo Purganan of Branch 42 of the Manila Regional Trial Court has his chambers and courtroom.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza , who was in Chinatown for the New Year celebration, was informed of the fire at about 11 p.m. and immediately rushed to City Hall.

Upon his arrival at City Hall, Atienza went up the third floor to check the progress of the firefighting operations.

He ordered District Fire Marshall Pablito Cordeta to conduct a thorough investigation and determine the exact cause of the fire.

"At this point, we still don’t know what caused the fire but I have directed Fire Marshall Cordeta to conduct a thorough investigation," Atienza said the other night.

Based on the initial report of Fire Officer 3 Gaudencio Magallanes of the Investigation and Intelligence Branch of the Manila Fire District, the fire razed the staff room of Branch 42 while portions of the mezzanine, Purganan’s office and courtroom were damaged by water.

"We are still conducting an investigation, but it appears the fire started underneath one of the tables near the doorway," Magallanes said.

He said that Manila Civil Security Force member Renato Anonoy was at his post at the west gate when a passerby told him that smoke was coming out of a room at the third floor of the building.

Anonoy and his fellow guards immediately reported the fire to Patrol 117, which immediately set out a radio alarm. Firefighters from various volunteer firefighter groups and the Manila Fire District arrived at the scene within 10 minutes after the radio alarm was sent out.

The fire reach the second alarm and was finally put out at about 1:08 a.m. Damage to property was estimated at P100,000.

No other room was damaged by the blaze but several offices on the lower floors below sustained water damage.

Firefighters encountered thick smoke inside the room, making breathing difficult. Magallanes said the room lacked ventilation because of stacked court records.

"As a result, firefighters had to take turns going inside to hold the waterhose, " he said.

Reports indicated that Purganan himself went to City Hall last night.

Yesterday, the judge said they still cannot say how many court records were burned or ruined by water.

"The current files are inside a steel cabinet. We had three computers in that room," he said.

Purganan said it could take more than a month before they can start hearing cases. "We have to look for a temporary office first and try to restore our files."

The judge made headlines when he handled several controversial cases like the extradition of former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez and the proposed shutting down of the Pandacan oil depot.