Losses in UP fire 'incalculable,' says chancellor

Though no one was hurt, the damage by the fire that hit UP Diliman's faculty center on Thursday night would be "incalculable," university officials said, noting that among those destroyed were archival materials and decades-old dissertations.

"There were no injuries or casualties," Chancellor Michael Tan said in a statement posted on Facebook. "The other losses are incalculable, considering all the books, research notes, archival materials that went up in flames."

"The was much grieving from faculty, staff and students who rushed to the site," he added.

In an interview on "Balitanghali," UP Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Nelson Castro said archival materials that have yet to be digitized are believed "totally lost," including papers by American anthropologist H. Otley Beyer from the 1900's.

"Meron ding ibang collection ang Department of Art Studies, including mga paintings, ilang mga materyales, including old ones. Tapos ang Department of History ay meron sila doon na koleksyon ng kanilang mga thesis at dissertations mula pa nung naitayo nila bilang departamento, ibig sabihin mga 100 years ago na 'yun," Castro said.

He also said some of the books and documents recovered from the initial scouring of the place may still be usable.

However, they have yet to determine the degree of usability of the books as they were still not allowed in the premises as of Friday noon due to safety issues.

"Pinagbabawalan munang pumasok ang hindi namang authorities dun sa premises kasi baka delikado, baka may mga mag-collapse na structures," Castro said.

Access to the faculty center was restricted to allow Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) personnel to conduct an investigation and assess the structural integrity of the building.

Affected by the fire include all departments of the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) and the history, philosophy, anthropology, and linguistics departments of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP).

The BFP has declared fire out at 11:25 a.m. Friday. It will conduct mapping operation before launching an investigation.

"Magkakaiba yung epekto, maraming mga young faculty na severe ang epekto sa kanila kasi parang ang opisina nila sa faculty parang second home. Ibig sabihin ang kanilang valuables nandun, ang mga laptop naandun," Castro said on the effect of the incident on faculty members.

Tan said security guards observed a small fire coming out of a room in the third floor before it spread to the entire landing by 1:45 in the morning.

He added that the fire began to spread to the second floor about half an hour later and eventually reached the first floor.

The fire alarm reached "Task Force Alpha", one level above the fifth alarm, and took until 4:42 a.m. for it to be declared under control.

As a result of the incident, CAL's dean and other administrators were moved to Pavillion 1 in the Palma complex, while work on Pavilion 2 will be rushed for College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) to give space to its history, philosophy, anthropology, and linguistics departments.

Tan has ordered Vice Chancellor Virginia Yap to conduct needs assessment with  affected faculty members from both colleges while all units in the university will convene meetings to reassess building policies.

These policies include "a) access to rooms at night; b) strict enforcement of all lights out, all appliances unplugged at night; c) provision of duplicate keys for all rooms, to be kept by the building's central administration so they can access the rooms in cases of emergency." —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News