Compilation of

SSENIDAER RETSASID
NOITCUDER KSIR DNA

Fire Hazards
happened in the
Philippines

By Avril Jayzel R. Balington

OZONE DISCO (1996)
CASUALTY COUNT: 162

Back in the 1990s, the Ozone Disco was the nearby watering hole

and weekend hangout spot for college students and yuppies.

Many of the young people who went to the club on March 16,

1996, decided and unwind to celebrate the end of the school year

and their upcoming graduation ceremonies. Everyone was having

a good time before the DJ booth caught fire.

Some clubbers wrongly mistook it for part of the special effects.

It was mass hysteria as the fire spread. People hurried to the only

exit, which opened only when the door was pulled open. The

panic and stampede caused the door to be thrown open,

trapping the majority of the club's patrons that night.

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

A WIG FACTORY IN MARIKINA
(1975)
CASUALTY COUNT: 42

The fire began on the factory's first floor. It rapidly spread to the upper

floors due to the extremely flammable materials. Since the fire exits

had already been engulfed by the fire, the majority of the staff were

trapped. Some trapped employees on the upper floors attempted to

jump, but they died as a result of their injuries.

In just three hours, 42 people died and 79 others were seriously injured.

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

BAHAY KALINGA FIRE (1998)
CASUALTY COUNT: 28

A fire broke out at the Bahay Kalinga orphanage in Paco, Manila, on December 4, 1998, due to

defective electrical wiring. Many of the children and their caregivers were still sleeping at 2 a.m.

There were 70 people inside the establishment that night, and 28 of them died, the majority of

whom were orphans. There were the children stuck on the upper floors and the babies left in the

nursery. Two children have gone missing and are believed to be dead. Tragically, the fire occurred

only one day before a local company was set to host a children's Christmas party.

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

MANOR HOTEL (2001)
CASUALTY COUNT: 75

On August 18, 2001, the Manor Hotel in Quezon City had over

170 people staying on its six floors. A fire broke out on the

third floor about 4:30 a.m., and the smoke stopped most

guests from leaving their quarters.

They might have just climbed out the windows if their

windows didn't have metal grills, which would have been a

blatant breach of building safety codes and regulations. The

hotel also omitted other safety features such as water

sprinklers, fire detectors, emergency lighting, and fire exits,

according to a later investigation.

KENTEX SLIPPER MANUFACTURING
FIRE (2015)
CASUALTY COUNT: 74

A factory that made flipflops and rubber shoes caught fire on

May 13, 2015, when welding sparks ignited chemicals that were

unfortunately stored near the factory's entrance. The fire took five

hours to finally extinguish, and 74 people had died by that time.

The majority of the bodies were discovered on the second floor

and were severely burned, reduced to charred skulls and bones.

Survivors of the fire blamed the factory's inhumane working

conditions. Rex Gatchalian, the mayor of Valenzuela City, was

charged with corruption and reckless imprudence, resulting in

multiple murder and physical injury charges two years later. The

indictment of Gatchalian, however, was dismissed by the

Antigraft Court's Second Division.

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

MV DOÑA PAZ (1987)

NOITCUDER KSIR DNA

SSENIDAER RETSASID
CASUALTY COUNT: 4,000

The passenger ship Doa Paz was sailing from Tacloban, Leyte, to

Manila. MT Vector, an oil tanker, was transporting 1,050,000 liters

of gasoline and other petroleum products from Bataan to

Masbate at the same time. The two vessels collided shortly before

midnight on December 20, 1987, just five days before Christmas,

in the Tablas Strait near Marinduque. This sparked a fire that

rapidly spread throughout the ship. Survivors would later

remember that, in addition to the ship, the sea seemed to be on

fire as a result of the ship's gas and petroleum leaks.

In the world's worst peacetime maritime tragedy, an estimated

4,000 passengers died. The shortage of life jackets and the

passenger vessel's overcapacity—at least two thousand

passengers were not included on the manifest—added to the

tragedy.
NCCC MALL (2017)
CASUALTY COUNT: 37

A fire engulfed the 14-year-old NCCC Mall in Davao two

days before Christmas, a season when most Pinoys go

shopping at malls. A short circuit at the ceiling of the fabric

and furniture parts began the fire. The fire burned for 32

hours, killing 38 people, the majority of whom were call

center agents working on the fourth floor.

Authorities later discovered that the building's third floor,

where the fire began, lacked a working sprinkler device.

Sprinkler mechanism control valves were also manually

switched off at the time of the incident.

STA. CRUZ FIRE (2021)
CASUALTY COUNT: 3

Authorities said a mother and her child died in a fire that destroyed a two-story residential building in

Sta. Cruz, Manila, on Wednesday morning. According to the Bureau of Fire Protection, the victims were

Frencelyn Batol, 36, and a six-year-old believed to be the woman's brother (BFP). The victims were

trapped inside the house where the fire began and entered the second alarm by 6:18 a.m., according to

witnesses. It was released at 6:55 a.m. Firefighters retrieved the child's body through a window. A third

survivor, Jonel Mandap, 36, was airlifted to Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, where he was treated

for second-degree burns that covered 79 percent of his body. Mandap's relationship to the two deaths

has yet to be determined.

Property damage was estimated at P100,000, and the cause of the fire was still being investigated.
QUEZON CITY FIRE (2021)
CASUALTY COUNT: 0

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) announced that a fire in a

residential area of Quezon City on Tuesday evening destroyed ten

homes, affecting 12 households. The fire began in a bungalow

owned by a Nestro Arminal in Riverside, Brgy. Sauyo, according to

BFP.

Although there were no casualties or injuries, BFP estimated that

the fire caused P50,000 in damage. According to initial reports,

the fire may have been caused by an unattended candle,

according to BFP. Residents interviewed by ABS-CBN Teleradyo,

on the other hand, said that some children were seen playing with

a candle prior to the incident.

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

PHILIPPINE GENERAL HOSPITAL
FIRE (2021)
CASUALTY COUNT: 0

As the country's healthcare system battled the coronavirus pandemic,

the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) was struck by fire early Sunday

morning, May 16. The fire began on the third floor of PGH's central

block house, in the Operating Room Sterilization Area, where paying

patients were admitted. It did not spread to other parts of the country.

The fire's origin is still being investigated.

Patients from the hospital's central building, which is not yet ready to

be filled, have been moved to other parts of the hospital, while others

have been transferred to their original areas.

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

REFERENCES
https://www.rappler.com/nation/fire-philippine-general-hospital-may-16-2021

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1418867/fire-hits-10-houses-in-quezon-city

https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/the-7-deadliest-fires-in-the-philippines-in-

the-last-50-years-a1729-20180327-lfrm

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/04/28/news/mother-and-child-die-in-sta-

cruz-fire/868290/

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION