12 fires hit MM on New Year

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 12 fires were recorded from Dec. 31, 2012 to yesterday morning in Metro Manila, though it is fewer than the cases during the same period last year, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Santiago Laguna, BFP-National Capital Region (NCR) director, said the incidents were recorded at around 8 a.m. of Dec. 31 to 8 a.m. Jan. 1. Last year, there were 21 fires during the same period.

Laguna said that at least 21 fires, which caused up to P10 million worth of property damage, happened during from Dec. 31, 2011 to Jan. 1, 2012. No one was killed while one was injured, according to a report.

He expressed satisfaction with the result of their intensive campaign to reduce fires in Metro Manila.

Reports reaching Laguna’s office showed the 12 fires destroyed at least P4 million worth of property. No one was killed in the incident but FO2 Edgardo Medina was injured while containing a fire in Caloocan City.

Of the 12 fire calls, eight of them happened after midnight, signaling the start of 2013.

At least 15 shanties in Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City were razed by a fire that broke out at past 1 a.m. City fire marshal Senior Superintendent Bobby Baruelo said residents blamed the fire on a sky lantern that landed on one of the houses.

A fire also broke out at a two-story house owned by Dr. Salvador Torres on Cambridge street in Barangay E. Rodriguez shortly after midnight.

Also recorded were one fire incident each in Tondo, Manila and Marikina City.

A public utility bus caught fire at the intersection of EDSA and Ermin Garcia street in Quezon City. Baruelo said the driver and conductor of the Malanday Metrolink bus (TWK-431) were missing when firefighters responded to the scene. He said investigators pegged the damage at around P1 million.

The BFP has so far recorded the fifth alarm as the highest level reached by the New’s Year’s fires.

In Tondo, Manila, the Amado V. Hernandez Elementary School was gutted by fire that started at past midnight on Jan. 1. The fire started at the property custodian’s office on the second floor of the two-story school building, investigators said. The cause of the fire is still unknown.     – With Reinir Padua