Fire hits residential area in Barangay Pag-asa, QC

A yet to be determine number of residents of Barangay Pag-asa in Quezon were left homeless after a fire that reached the third alarm broke out just across the national headquarters of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) on Sunday afternoon.

The fire was reported at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 16, and spread across a residential area despite the rains. Residents were forced to evacuate, and helped in responding to the fire through passing buckets of water.

“Nakatulong rin po ‘yung barangay mismo. Nagtulong tulong silang mag-bucket relay (The barangay helped. They helped each other with a bucket relay),” BFP Quezon City District Operations chief CINsp. Marvin Mari said in a report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

Among the residents affected was Edgar, a jeepney driver, who was working with his daughter when the fire hit. They were not able to save belongings such as clothes, but were able to retrieve his daughter’s birth certificate.

“Buti nga kasama ko kasi kung naiwan ko, baka… Kung naiwan ka, masusunog ka (It’s good that I brought her because if I had not, maybe… If you were left you would have been caught in the fire.)” he added.

A portion of North Avenue was temporarily closed for responding firefighters. Authorities declared the fire out after an hour. There were no reported injuries or casualties as of reporting time. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/RF, GMA Integrated News