By Edwin Fernandez/Philippine News Agency
COTABATO CITY – The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in North Cotabato has recorded a total of 44 fire incidents across the province causing five deaths and destroying PHP88 million worth of properties since January 1 this year, an official said.
Fire Officer Samyr Mundas, speaking for BFP-North Cotabato, said the biggest fire to hit the province was the conflagration at Sugni Superstore in Barangay Poblacion, Kabacan town last March 25.
“Arson investigators and the department store owner declared a total of PHP70-million damage on the Sugni fire incident,” he said over a local radio station Wednesday.
Early on, four died when a fire hit an ancestral home in Arakan town on March 6. On Feb. 28, more than PHP5 million worth of properties were destroyed when another fire hit an oil palm plantation, also in Arakan town.
On Saturday, a fire incident hit an ancestral home in Kidapawan City resulting in the death of an 83-year-old woman.
Mundas called on the public to take precautionary measures as fires are common during summer, particularly with the El Nino phenomenon.
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