ROXAS City – Negligence among tenants of a boardinghouse may have caused the fire that razed 10 houses on Philippine Railway Street in Barangay 9 here.
The boardinghouse, owned by the Aguirre family, and the house of the village chief, Eufrosino Azarcon, was among those burned, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection.
“According to a witness, Quezon Aguirre, the tenants were cooking at their kitchen but later left without extinguishing some embers,” Senior Fire Officer 2 Marlon Garbo, deputy city fire marshal, told Panay News.
The fire struck at around 2:45 p.m. on Monday. The local BFP received the fire call at around 2:52 p.m., Garbo said.
It was learned that the tenants left their kitchen upon learning about a vehicular crash that happened a few meters from the boardinghouse.
Firefighters found it difficult to penetrate the area because of the narrow streets leading to the site of the blaze, said Senior Inspector Stephen Jardeleza, city fire marshal.
The BFP declared “fire out” at around 5 p.m.
Twenty-four families were affected by the fire, data from the City Social Welfare and Development Office showed.
Jardeleza said they have recorded no casualty but someone sustained minor injuries while two others suffered from hypertension. They have all been given proper medical attention, he said./PN
