SOME P1.3 million worth of properties went up in smoke in two separate fire incidents on Christmas Day in Zamboanga City.

Chief Inspector Jacqueline Ortega, city fire marshal, said the fire incident took place around 8:30 a.m. at Purok 7B in Recodo village.

Ortega said a boarding house and two residential houses were razed. The estimate cost of damaged was more or less P500,000.

Investigation showed the fire started at the boarding house and also engulfed the two nearby houses, Ortega added.

The fire marshal said there was no reported casualty in the fire, the origin of which they have yet to determine.

Ortega said the second fire incident took place around 1:59 p.m. at Sampaguita Drive in Guiwan Village.

She said the fire gutted down a lumber yard and five residential houses with an estimated worth of P800,000.

She added the fire, which reached third alarm status, was declared “fire out” around 3 p.m. She said that like the first incident, there was no reported casualty in the second incident. (SunStar Zamboanga).