By Hilda Austria
MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Six people, including two minors and a septuagenarian, perished in a fire that struck a residential area in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan on Monday.
Pangasinan Police Provincial Office information officer Capt. Aileen Catugas, in a phone interview Tuesday, said the fire gutted two houses in Zone 2, Barangay Nancayasan.
The victims were a 72-year-old female, a 59-year-old female, two males in their 40s and two 11-year-old females.
She said personnel of the Urdaneta City Police Station received a call about the fire at 3 a.m. on Monday and coordinated with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) who were the first responders at the scene.
According to the Urdaneta City BFP, the fire started at around 2 a.m. on April 20.
“The BFP’s investigation revealed that two of the residents, a 36-year-old female and her 12-year-old son noticed smoke coming from the kitchen below their house at around 2 a.m. When she went downstairs, she discovered that the kitchen was already filled with smoke and fire had spread throughout the vicinity,” Catugas said.
The two were able to escape the fire. The BFP declared fire out at about 4:49 a.m.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and the cost of damage is yet to be determined by the BFP,” she added. (PNA)
