The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is looking into faulty electrical wiring as the cause of the fire that gutted a truck drivers' barracks in Barangay Maybunga, Pasig early Friday morning, Dec. 20.
The fire damaged some parked trucks and motorcycles inside the barracks while the stay-in truck drivers and helpers who were all asleep at the time the fire started were safe.
The BFP raised the first alarm at 2:09 a.m. and immediately put the fire out at around 2:37 a.m.
Due to the rapid spread of the fire, they were unable to save any belongings, leaving some drivers distressed as even their driver’s licenses were damaged by the fire.
“Nagulat lang ako sumigaw yung helper ko, sabi na ‘sunog!’ paggising ko ayun parang naalimpungatan din ako kaya nagtakbuhan na lang kami. Malaki na yung apoy (I was startled when my helper shouted, 'fire!' When I woke up, I was still disoriented, so we just ran. The fire was already huge),” truck driver Violito Duran said in a media interview.
The Pasig-BFP said that based on the findings and ocular inspection, the fire seems to have originated from the electrical wiring.
"Based on ocular inspection, ang pinaka nakikita lang namin na parang pinagmulan po is sa electrical po doon sa may kisame, so since natutulog po sila, hindi po nila certain kung alin po doon kasi nagising lang sila nakita nila may usok sa kisame (Based on the ocular inspection, the most likely source we can see is the electrical wiring in the ceiling. Since they were asleep, they couldn’t be certain of the exact cause. They only woke up to see smoke coming from the ceiling),” Fire Officer 2 Fahad Pusaca said.
Authorities are still investigating the total cost of damage caused by the fire.