Metro greets 2009 with 17 fires

A total of 17 fires occurred in Metro Manila from Dec. 31, 2008 to Jan. 1, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reported yesterday.

BFP director Chief Superintendent Rolando Bandilla during the same period, 20 other fires occurred in six other regions in the country, most of which occurred in Ilocos region, which reported 11 fires.

In all 37 fire incidents, the BFP chief said there was no fatality nor injuries reported but about P5.658 million worth of property went up in smoke. In Metro Manila, fires destroyed P3.716 million worth of property.

Bandilla said this year’s 37 fires is 50 percent fewer than the incidents recorded last year at 73 and destroyed P32.198 million worth of property.

Earlier, The STAR reported that a total of 170 fires took place in Metro Manila from Dec. 1 to 30.

Meanwhile, arson investigators said a stray firecracker may have started a fire that gutted an upholstery shop and the house beside it in Barangay Teacher’s Village in Quezon City at around 12:07 a.m. It was put out at 1:04 a.m.

Chief Inspector Danilo Jamito said the fire damage to the house and shop, both owned by Alfredo Patiag, may have reached P3 million.

Jamito said a boy “who had difficulty walking” sustained bruises in his “haste to get out of the burning house.” The boy was reported to be in good condition after being treated at a hospital.

Half an hour after midnight Wednesday, an electrical fire occurred at a house on J.P. Rizal street in Project 4, Quezon City. It was put out three minutes later.

Yesterday afternoon, an eighth-floor unit of the Pacific Palisades Condominium near the Court of Appeals in Manila caught fire yesterday.

Investigators said they are still determining the cause of the fire, which broke out at 1:57 p.m. and was put out seven minutes later. No one was reported injured. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Reinir Padua, Sandy Araneta