ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 11 Oct) – A fire razed down a sack warehouse and eight houses in a coastal village here Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

Witnesses said the fire started at the sack warehouse, owned by the family of Renato Eroy Remullo, at Purok 8A in Bulog, Barangay Tambacan around 2 p.m., causing black smoke to rise into the sky rapidly that can be seen even from afar.

SFO2 Richard Cartin, chief of the investigation and intelligence section of the Iligan City Fire Station, said it took fire personnel three hours to put out the fire even though a total of nine firetrucks, including from neighboring Lanao del Norte and Misamis Oriental provinces, came to help extinguish it.

He said the narrow pathways leading to the sack warehouse, situated in the middle of many houses, made it difficult for fire personnel to reach the fire scene.

Cartin said they are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Lionsia Calatrava, a 59-year-old widow who owned a store across the sack warehouse, said she heard a spark by the electrical post nearby around 2 p.m. “When I went out, I saw the warehouse already up in flames like an inferno, then explosions followed,” she said.[]