A fire struck a residential area along Road 10, Barangay 123 in Tondo, Manila before dawn on Wednesday.

The blaze affected some 500 houses, said Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Metro Manila spokesperson FSSupt. Bonifacio Carta.

“The structures are made of light construction materials. Pagka made of light construction materials, mas mabilis lumaki [o kumalat] ang apoy,” Carta said.

The fire that started at 2 a.m. spread rapidly and the alert level was raised to Task Force Charlie past 3:30 a.m., which meant that every city outside Manila should send at least three firetrucks.

“Malaki yung apoy dito along Road 10… Kailangan lang namin itaasan yung alarma considering na nagsabay po yung dalawang alarma natin (sa Port Area)… kaya kailangan magdagdag ng additional firetrucks so we need to raise to Task Force Charlie to increase the number of responders coming from outside the city of Manila,” Carta said.

“Isa sa mga challenges talaga sa pag-apula ng sunog pagka malalayo yung kalsada. Although, dikit-dikit yung mga bahay dito sa Tondo, may mga eskinita po yan na mga accessible,” he added.

Carta said that around 100 firetrucks responded to the scene, in addition to volunteer firefighters.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation. The BFP was considering two possible causes, namely an unattended candle or electrical issues, as reported by witnesses.

“Ang fire incident natin ay nagsimula sa isang 2-storey residential. Yung nabanggit kasi kanina may nagsasabi kandila, kuryente,” Carta said.

The estimated cost of the damage has reached P10 million.