Tsinoy couple rescued from burning building

Firefighters rescued a Chinese-Filipino couple, owners of a seven-storey building in Binondo, Manila, after they were trapped on one of the floors of the burning structure yesterday.

Wilson Sy, 56, and his wife Estrella, 53, were brought down to safety by responding firefighters as another group of firemen used ladders to get to the burning fifth floor of the Somar building along Lara steet in Binondo.

The couple were immediately given first aid for smoke inhalation.

Arson prober Senior Fire Officer 1 Wilson Tana said the fire started at around 8 a.m. inside the room of the couple at the fifth floor of the building.

The fire reached the fifth alarm before it was finally put out at 9:30 a.m.

Only the fifth floor was gutted by fire. Damage was placed at P300,000.

Arson investigators are still determining the cause of the blaze.

A second fire occurred at a residential area at the corner of P. Dandan and Varona streets in Tondo at around 1:15 p.m.

Probers are still determining the number of houses razed in the two-hour fire which was placed under control past 2 p.m.

Two people, including a fire inspector, were hurt in the fire, which was the fifth to hit the capital in 2006.

Senior Fire Inspector Bonifacio Carta sustained minor injuries in the hands while responding to the blaze. He was rushed to the Mary Johnston Hospital for treatment.

The woman, identified as Ofelia Victor, was taken to a nearby hospital for smoke inhalation.

Last Jan. 2, Chinese-Filipino couple Lorenzo and Virginia Ngo perished in a fire which struck the Josefa Building at the corner of Padre Rada and Ilaya streets in Divisoria.

50 houses razed

In Makati City, fire razed a slum area in Barangay Tejeros last Wednesday , gutting down at least 50 makeshift houses.

No one was reported killed or hurt in the five-hour blaze.

Reports from the Makati Fire Department (MFD) said the fire started at around 6:45 p.m. from one of the shanties on the corner of Masangkay and Adora streets.

Senior Fire Officer 2 Juanito Peralta said the fire reached Task Force Charlie, which sent all of MFD’s firetrucks to the scene.

Firefighters found it difficult to enter the area because of narrow passages and had to cut wires and cables in the area for safety.

Peralta said the fire was declared out at around 11:50 p.m.

In Caloocan City, at least 300 families were left homeless when a two-hour fire caused by an illegal electrical connection broke out at a squatters’ colony last Wednesday in Dagat-Dagatan.

Ten-year-old Leslie Presilda and Edwin Marcaida, 35, sustained minor burns and bruises in the fire that started at around 4:10 p.m. at the house of couple Julius and Gina Cortez at Block 16-C, Lot 14, Camada Compound, Dagat-Dagatan.

As this developed, Mayor Enrico Echiverri, through the City Social Worker Department, sent relief goods and tents to the fire victims.

"Apart from used clothing, slippers and blankets, each family was also given five kilos of rice and bags of groceries," Beth Ayudan of the CSWD told The STAR.

Ayudan said the city government is preparing to give additional assistance to the victims as several tents have been put up for their temporary shelter.

Caloocan fire marshal Chief Inspector Juan Reyes said the fire quickly engulfed Cortez’s two-storey house before spreading and razing more than 70 other houses in the area.

The fire reached Task Force Bravo, sending some 60 firetrucks from the Caloocan City Fire Bureau and neighboring cities to the scene.

The blaze was placed under control at around 5:03 p.m. and declared out at around 6:37 p.m.

A witness told arson investigators that he saw a spark from a power line that was connected from an electric post to the second floor of couple’s house. It later burst into flames that spread rapidly.

The power line was directly connected to the room of a certain Uroy, one of three people renting a room at the house.

SFO1 Elmer Orlina said that an estimated P3 million in property was destroyed.

Orlina said that it was the fourth fire to hit Caloocan this week.

The previous fires were caused by faulty electrical wiring. – With Michael Punongbayan, Pete Laude