“Nothing, we were not able to save anything at all. We were able to save only ourselves and our pet dogs,” Teacher Chris said in Filipino.
Another resident shared their heartbreak over losing their home, especially with Christmas just around the corner.
“Tulungan sana kami kahit konti. Kawawa naman kami, mag-paPasko pa naman,” she said.
“We don’t know what to do now. It’s extremely difficult and very sad. Sometimes all I can do is cry,” the resident said in Filipino.
Footage showed the widespread devastation caused by the blaze, which broke out at approximately 4:49 p.m. local time (0849 GMT) and burned for more than eight hours before being contained by firefighters and volunteers, who deployed over 100 fire trucks to control the blaze.
Reuters was able to verify the location and date of the eyewitness video footage by original file metadata from source which shows date and GPS coordinates of the location
Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing, with initial findings pointing to a potential electrical short circuit as the trigger, the BFP said.
