Fire incident at Punta Dumalag wiped-out 150 houses

DAVAO CITY — a two-hour fire swept through an urban community in Matina Aplaya, Davao City on Thursday August 22 destroying at least 150 houses.

The Bureau of Fire Protection said the fire broke out around 8:30 am. This is the 24th fire incident in the city in August. It spread quickly consuming more houses there.

Houses in the area are built nearly touching each other and connected by wooden foot bridges that helped spread the fire close to a police station, which was closed with water as a preventive measure.

The fire, fanned by strong winds from the sea, quickly destroyed the houses that were made of light materials and situated close to each other.

Some residents failed to recover any item from their house during the fire.

“I was at work when I heard the fire report. I rushed home but I was too late. All of our items, including important documents, were already burned,” one of the victims said.

According to SFO3 Ramil Gillado, Investigation Chief of Davao City Fire District, the damage is estimated to reach 1.3 million. (Princess Jasmin Herrero | HCDC Intern)