Tondo fire destroys P1.5M in property

At least P1.5 million in property was destroyed in a fire that gutted a residential area in Manila's Tondo district before dawn Thursday. No one was reported injured in the fire at Pampanga Road 2 in Barangay 180 in Gagalangin, radio dzBB's Manny Vargas reported. The fire reached the fifth alarm before it was placed under control at 2:42 a.m. Arson investigators are now looking into allegations that the fire may have been deliberately started. According to SFO2 Emmanuel Gaspar of the Manila Fire Department, they are verifying reports a certain Bong, a tenant of one of the razed houses, could have started the fire. The dzBB report said local residents claimed Bong allegedly did not pay his rent and had gotten into fights in the area. Gaspar cited initial information whish said residents smelled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and heard an explosion before the fire started. — DVM, GMA News