3 hurt in Cubao fires

Three people were injured in two separate fire incidents that hit an arcade at the Araneta Center and an apartment building on E. Rodriguez Avenue in Cubao, Quezon City early yesterday.

Major Oscar Villegas, Quezon City fire marshal, identified the victims as Mary Ann Navales, 21, Carlo Bacsa, 12, and Crista Empasis, 2.

Initial investigation disclosed that fire first hit the Romulo Arcade at 2 a.m. Damaged was the Araneta Center Post Office located in the building.

Twenty minutes later, another fire razed an apartment building on E. Rodriguez.

Villegas said that Bacsa and Navales, residents of the apartment, suffered minor burns while the two-year-old girl was hit by a fireman’s hose in the chest.

The fire was declared under control at around 5 a.m.

Arson investigators are still determining the cause of the two fire incidents. — Perseus Echeminada