Malabon fire leaves 1,000 families homeless

More than 1,000 families were rendered homeless by a six-hour fire at a slum area in Malabon City Saturday afternoon.

“Most of the more than 1,000 families that lost their houses are taking refuge at a public elementary school near the burned area,” Malabon City fireman Fire Officer 2 Armando Madla told The STAR. 

Madla said that at least 650 houses where destroyed when a fire of still unknown origin broke out at around 1:05 p.m. at a two-story house owned by Hugo Riberal in the middle of a slum area at Gozon Compound in Barangay Tonsuya.

The flames quickly spread through the neighborhood, where houses were made of wood and other light materials.

At the height of the conflagration, electrician Arnel Javier, 18, was helping clear the road of debris when he accidentally stepped on a patch of water-logged ground near a fallen power line. He died from being electrocuted.

Two other residents – John Ray Arinas, 19, and Carmen Juanerio, 42, sustained minor injuries.

About three hours after the blaze started, a heavy downpour occurred. Despite the rainfall, it took firefighters, led by Malabon City fire marshal Chief Inspector Rodrigo Reyes, another three hours to put out the fire.

Madla said that apart from the three victims, no one else was reported hurt in the blaze that destroyed an estimated P3 million worth of properties.

Malabon City Mayor Canuto Oreta, through the City Social Welfare and Development, sent relief assistance yesterday to the fire victims at the Tonsuya Elementary School while arson investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the blaze.