Firefighters battled a blaze that engulfed 50 homes and injured one man when the burning debris fell on him.
Fire Injures Resident And Destroys Homes In The Philippines
Firefighters battled a blaze that engulfed 50 homes and injured one man when the burning debris fell on him.
Fire trucks rushed to the residential area in the Sampaloc district of Manila, the Philippines on Wednesday evening (September 30) as flamed ripped through an apartment building.
The crews struggled to put out the fire because the roads leading to the area are narrow and packed with obstructions.
They entered the narrow streets on foot while carrying the long water hoses because the trucks could pass through.
The flames rapidly spread because the shanty houses in the area were made of wood and other light materials.
Outside the burning neighbourhood, children were seen huddling in a vacant lot while their parents desperately tried to save their belongings from the houses.
Fire officers said they tried to prevent residents from returning to the fire the residents were insistent to salvage some of their valuables before the fire could get to them.
One man was injured on the head and foot when a burning portion of an electric post fell on him, but the medics have already given him first aid treatment.
Manila Fire Station 5 Commander Hector Agadulin said the area was fire-prone because of the narrow passages.
He said: ''The fire hydrants are far from the neighbourhood.
Our team had difficulty reaching them and the fire spread quickly.'' He added that their initial investigation shows that the blaze started from the third floor of a three-store apartment where a family was living.
Investigations are ongoing to find the cause of fire while the affected families were given temporary shelters at a nearby school building.