TACLOBAN CITY – Fourteen people were injured and at least 36 houses were razed in a fire at the seawall area of Barangay 37 here last Saturday.
Initial investigation disclosed that the fire started in a boarding house owned by a certain Regina Cabantac at 11 a.m.
Fire Office 3 Jonald Lace, investigator from the Bureau of Fire Protection-Tacloban, said the fire broke out a few minutes after power was restored. The city had experienced a brownout earlier in the day.
He added that the tenants left early in the morning, leaving the house empty, while based on the accounts of some residents, the fire started from an unattended rice cooker which the tenants denied.
“The fire allegedly started from the second floor of the house, and it spread in just a matter of three to five minutes because the houses were made of light materials and the wind was strong,” Lace said. (Marie Tonette Marticio)