Child dies, 2000 families homeless in QC fire

A five-year-old child died while some 2,000 families lost their homes in a five-hour fire that razed some 500 houses in Quezon City Monday night. Radio dzBB’s Manny Vargas reported the fire, which started after 9 p.m. Monday and reached Task Force Delta, was put out around 2:37 a.m. Tuesday. The fatality was initially identified as Manny Martinez, 5, of Sinagtala Compound in Bahay Toro village. While some initial accounts by residents indicated the boy was left sleeping inside the house, others said he was trying to escape the fire with his mother and an elder sibling, but the sibling was forced to let go of him as their house was collapsing because of the fire. Martinez’s house was next to that of one Carlito Mapunting's house, where arson investigators suspect the fire started. The dzBB report also cited unverified reports that at least one fire volunteer was injured while battling the blaze. It added the fire also affected at least two houses in the nearby Congressional Village. As of Tuesday morning, 137 of the affected families were staying at the village’s covered court while most of the victims stayed at the fire scene in a bid to salvage their belongings.

Meanwhile, fire of undetermined origin razed part of a residential building in Quezon City’s Cubao district before dawn Tuesday. A report by dzBB’s Allan Gatus said the fire razed the fifth floor and affected part of the fourth floor of the Genato Building along Banahaw Street. The report quoted caretaker Linda de Vera as saying she woke the tenants on the fifth floor when she noticed the fire. She said the residents managed to evacuate the building. No one was initially reported injured in the fire, which reached the third alarm as of 4:19 a.m. and was declared out at 5:40 a.m. Firefighters complained a fire hydrant near the building was not working. An investigation showed the building belonged to one Natividad Genato, whose son William owned the Manor Hotel in Quezon City. To recall, a fire destroyed the Manor Hotel on August 18, 2001, where more than 70 people were killed. The recent Quezon City fires came less than a week after four people were killed and 20 families lost their homes in two fires of undetermined origin in Parañaque City. Last week, a fire, also of undetermined origin, injured two and left 5,000 families homeless, and destroyed P20 million in properties in Quezon City. Also last week, a fire of undetermined origin killed at least two people in a residential-commercial area in Makati City. — LBG, GMA News