By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Around 12 houses were destroyed, while four were partially damaged in a residential fire at Barangay Zone 1’s Purok Sambag in Negros Occidental’s Murcia town yesterday morning.

Village chief Nerissa Jimenea said 16 families fled their homes and have temporarily taken shelter at the Murcia gymnasium.

Based on initial information from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), they received the fire call at 6:30 a.m.

The fire, which started at the house of Nestor Diaz, quickly spread among the homes as they were mostly made of light materials.

It took more than an hour before the blaze was put out by responding firefighters.

The cost of damage was estimated at P100,000, Rona Magdaloyo, Murcia Fire Station chief arson investigator, said.

As of press time, the cause of the blaze is yet to be determined.

Based on initial eyewitness accounts, the blaze was allegedly caused by unattended burning trash./DGB, WDJ