BACOOR CITY, Cavite –Firefighters are now probing the cause of the blaze that destroyed around 300 houses in a residential area in Barangay Maliksi 3, in this city Wednesday night.
Fire Supt. Aristotle Bañaga, provincial director of Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Cavite, said the flames quickly spread in the neighborhood, practically engulfing most of the houses made of light materials, in the coastal suburb.
Initial investigation showed that the fire allegedly started at the vacant house of a certain Jayson Miranda around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Arson investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire.
BFP-Bacoor personnel are now undertaking mopping operations and reported there was neither casualty nor injured in the incident.
They estimated fire damage to property at around PHP1.5 million.
The city fire department and some volunteers said they had difficulty in getting in the area because of the narrow roads.
Jon-jon Noriel, resident of a nearby barangay, said people in their area feared that the conflagration would spread to adjacent residential areas as firemen were having difficulty penetrating the site to put out the blaze.
“Halos hindi sila (firemen) at mga truck ng bombero makapasok dahil masikip ang kalye at nagkabuhol-buhol ang traffic diyan sa Evangelista Road dahil sa sunog (The fire trucks and responding fighters had a hard time to reach the area as the streets are narrow and the fire caused heavy great traffic along Evangelista Road),” Noriel said.
BFP personnel said the fire reached fourth alarm but was declared under control around 9:32 p.m. It was declared fire out two hours later.
Those affected by the fire are now relocated at evacuation center in Maliksi Elementary School gymnasium and given relief assistance by the city government. (Dennis Abrina/PNA)
