At least eight residents died and 80 homes were ravaged by a fire that broke out in residential area Village A in Brgy. UP Campus at 5 a.m. today, May 2.
Six of the fatalities were reportedly in the same room, according to radio station DZBB. Two other unidentified bodies are of one elderly and one minor.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) raised the fire to second alarm at 5:38 a.m., which quickly spread through light material. The initial cost of the damage was P250,000.
The fire was declared under control at 6:35 a.m. and was extinguished at 7 a.m.
According to the BFP, 250 families were affected by the fire.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but Village A residents noted a loud explosion prior to the blaze. The BFP says it started from the second-floor bedroom of a Village A resident.
UP Diliman, which does not have its own fire station, has been site to fires in the previous years. Fires razed part of the Alumni Center in 2015, the Faculty Center in 2016, and the shopping center in 2018.
UP community group UP Kilos Na Multisectoral Alliance called for a donation drive to help Village A residents. See details here: https://tinyurl.com/4r9xvej7.
This is a developing story.
