27 hurt in Taguig police station fire

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-seven inmates were injured when a fire hit the custodial facility of the Taguig City police station yesterday.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said the fire at the police station, located at the city hall compound in Barangay Tuktukan, started at around 12:12 p.m. and reached first alarm.

Firefighters put out the blaze at around 12:35 p.m.

Taguig police chief Col. Robert Baesa said 27 detainees were brought to a hospital for treatment of their injuries.

He said only four remain at the hospital while the rest only suffered minor wounds.

“Most of them were brought back to our custodial facility,” Baesa said in a phone interview.

The fire originated at the detention facility, according to arson probers.

Baesa said they are waiting for an update from the BFP on the cause of the fire.

2 injured in Baseco blaze

In Manila, two persons were injured when a fire, cause still unknown, destroyed around 50 houses in Baseco Compound yesterday.

Philippine Red Cross personnel treated FO1 Adrian Gabriel Jose for burns and wounds and Elvis Tanio, 17, for injuries he suffered when he fell from a roof.

According to the city’s fire department, the blaze broke out at around 8:36 a.m. and reached second alarm before it was put out at around 10:57 a.m.

PRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon said he instructed the PRC’s Manila chapter to send its Hot Meals on Wheels truck to help the families displaced by the fire.

The PRC also deployed a 15-member emergency response unit composed of firefighters and an ambulance crew.

80 Mandaluyong families homeless

Meanwhile, a fire razed a residential area in Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong and left around 80 families homeless.

FO2 Sherwin Jay Villasanta told The STAR the fire started at around 1:25 p.m. on Block 10 and reached second alarm before it was put out at around 3:45 p.m.

A volunteer sustained an eye injury and was given first aid by personnel of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

“The damage of the fire, its origin is still being investigated. The houses in the area are made of light and concrete materials,” Villasanta said. –  Jose Rodel Clapan