Fire hits abandoned UP Diliman dorm

An abandoned dormitory in the Diliman, Quezon City campus of the University of the Philippines (UP) was totally destroyed by a fire that occurred before dawn yesterday.

Though no one was hurt in the incident, it caused a fire official to issue a reminder to the authorities of the premier state university to check on the safety of its dormitories, especially the old ones that are still being used by the students.

Chief Fire Inspector Ruben Pascua said the fire broke out at 4:15 a.m. at the area where the canteen of the Narra Residence Hall was once located.

Because the dormitory was made from light materials – mostly wood and hollow blocks – the fire reached 5th alarm before it was put out at around 8 a.m.

In an interview with The STAR, Pascua placed the damage at around P1.5 million. UP President Emerlinda Roman confirmed that the dormitory has been closed since the first semester of the academic year “because it has deteriorated.”

Pascua said the blaze might have been electrical in origin.

“This should serve as an eye opener to the officials of UP to regularly check on the  status of the dormitories and fix whatever defects that they would find in these residence halls. It was good that (the Narra dormitory) was already abandoned and there were no more students occupying it, but what if the same thing happened to the other dormitories?” he said.

Pascua recalled that they recommended that the UP administration rewire their dormitories following an inspection conducted last November.

Fire inspectors found that the Ipil-Ipil Residence Hall did not have a fire alarm, a smoke detector, an automatic emergency light and a stunt pipe system, and that the other dormitories on campus had similar deficiencies.

Pascua said they have yet to verify if the UP administration has instituted the needed corrections.      – Reinir Padua