Fire guts Agusan del Norte DepEd building

BUTUAN CITY -- Around P5 million was lost after the entire Department of Education (DepEd) Agusan del Norte district building was razed Sunday evening, January 7.

Acting provincial fire marshal Fire Senior Inspector Rey Antonio Restauro of Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Agusan del Norte provincial office said the cause of fire is still being investigated and the possibility of arson is not being ruled out.

"We cannot rule out anything yet. We will look into all the angles and possible leads as well as check out eye witnesses and hopefully construct what really happened," said Restauro.

According to eye witness outside the DepEd building, the fire started on the second floor of the building quickly spread throughout the complex at around 4 in the afternoon.

BFP records pointed out that they got the call for support at 5:05 p.m.

Restauro said the fire was put under control at 6 p.m. and declared "fire out" at 10 p.m.

The fire alarm was raised to level 4, wherein other fire stations from the towns of Buenavista and Cabadbaran City responded to the call for additional support.