A PRE-DAWN, 30-minute blaze gutted at least 12 residential houses in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro Monday.

No one was reported injured in the fire, which broke out around 12:48 a.m. at a residential neighborhood in Max Suniel Street, fire probers said.

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SFO2 Rosalito Caratao, a fire investigator at the Cagayan de Oro Central Fire Station, said the fire started at the second floor of Rosemarie Malolot’s house.

The conflagration immediately spread to the neighborhood because the houses in the area are mostly made of light materials, SFO2 Caratao said. The fire, he added, did not spar even semi-concrete houses.
Probers said the cause of the fire had yet to be known.

However, Caratao said that before the fire broke out, two children were seen playing a lighted candle. He said the claim is being investigated.

The latest conflagration is the third to occur in the span of two days—all in Barangay Carmen.
There have been 10 cases of fire incidents within this month, Caratao said.(ALR)