Fire razes apartment in QC

Fire broke out inside a three-storey apartment unit yesterday morning in Quezon City caused by an unattended candle, prompting neighbors to protest against the occupants of the burning house who they claimed have turned the residence into a junk shop.

Residents of Cypress Village in Barangay Apolonio Samson went out shouting at the occupants of the said apartment unit, whom they claimed to have made the house a “fire hazard” by storing volumes of plastic scraps and bottles inside it.

Fire investigators SFO4 Juaner Ladua and FO3 Rey Malubay, who went to the scene yesterday, agreed that the apartment unit was indeed prone to fire. Ladua noted that all the three levels of the apartment unit were “filled with garbage.”

“Firefighters could not pass through inside the house because of the scraps stored there,” Malubay also said in an interview.

Resident Edna Escobar said she and her neighbors have been filing complaints against the occupants of the apartment unit before village officials since the latter started engaging in reselling of scraps about three years ago. “Since that time, three fire incidents have occurred in that house,” Escobar said, saying they fear that every time this happens the fire would reach their homes located adjacent to the apartment unit.

Firefighters and the neighbors said the house does not have electricity and water supply.

Malubay identified the owner of the house as a certain Angelo Tan Kho. Escobar, however, said the owner’s brother and his wife are currently occupying the apartment unit.

Yesterday morning at around 6:30 a.m., the brother reportedly lit a candle which he left unattended as he went to the bathroom.

The candle, however, accidentally fell on a pile of scraps stored in the house, causing the fire to reach the ceiling of the apartment unit.

It was immediately reported to the fire station, with firefighters responding in a period of four minutes. Malubay said firefighters were able to put out the fire in about 30 minutes. The blaze did not reach first alarm, he said.

No one was hurt during the incident. – Reinir Padua