University of the East buildings hit by fire

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE 3 12:34 p.m.) — The buildings of the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering as well as the University Chapel of the University of the East (UE) in Manila went aflame on Saturday morning, reaching the eighth highest alarm level as of 10 a.m.

Emergency dispatch server TXTFIRE Philippines recorded the start of the fire at 9:35 a.m., moving up to Task Force Charlie level. Task Force Charlie entails that the deputy regional director of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) being alerted and involved in the operations.

The BFP noted in radio reports that the fire started at the second floor of the College of Arts and Science building.

Fire authorities have managed to control the fire by 10:39 a.m., TXTFIRE reported.

Contributed photo by J. Jacinto shows the campus building burned down as of 10:17 a.m.

@olalla_tunas short clip of the fire raging UE Manila pic.twitter.com/3NC9RYdufn

— j.jacinto™ (@thirdworldjohn) April 2, 2016

Students, faculty and staff members have been evacuated when the fire broke out. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The fire incident occurred a day after the Faculty Center building at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City was similarly hit by fire.

Conversation topics "UE Manila" and "University of the East," meanwhile, trended on Twitter Philippines as concerned students, alumni and nearby residents expressed concern over the incident. — Video and photo by J. Jacinto