A two-hour fire “totally destroyed” the house of Presidential Communications Office chief Cheloy Garafil and several homes in a private village in Quezon City on Wednesday night.
The fire broke out at 8 p.m. in a duplex house and engulfed another house on Gabriela Silang Street, New Capitol Estate 1, Barangay Batasan Hills, according to a barangay official.
Garafil’s family was having dinner when they heard their neighbors shouting, Batasan Hills Fire Brigade officer in charge Sanny Pineda said.
The Palace official and her family immediately went out of the house, taking with them their pets.
Pineda said no one from the Garafil family was hurt, but their house was “totally burned.”
“Being a Valentine’s Day, the traffic was heavy and had slowed down fire trucks deployed to the scene,” Insp. Marvin Mari, Quezon City Fire chief said.
Two other houses, including the one being occupied by a 67-year-old male Korean, were also gutted, Mari said.
The Korean sustained third-degree burns on his right hand and multiple second to third-degree burns on different parts of his body, he added.
The fire was declared out at 10:44 p.m. Damage was estimated at P7 million, fire officials said.
In Manila, seven people, including two minors, were hurt in a fire that broke out in a residential area at 4070 Fuguso Street, Sta. Cruz.
According to fire officials, they were able to put out the blaze at 12:40 p.m.
Arson investigators said the fire damaged over 50 houses that displaced around 100 families.
