Philippines: huge fire engulfing Manila shanty town

[Karearea]

Huge flames can be seen engulfing a closely-built shanty community in the port area of Manila, in drone footage released by the city’s disaster management office.

Hundreds of residents have been left without homes, after around 1,000 houses were destroyed in the blaze on Sunday, Manila Fire District said.

Dozens of fire engines and fire boats were deployed to tackle the blaze, and the Philippine Air Force sent two helicopters which scooped up up water from Manila Bay to help extinguish the fire.

Emergency services have reported no casualties so far, and are yet to identify the cause.

The incident comes months after 11 people died in residential fire in the Chinatown district of the Philippine capital.

BBC: Drone footage shows huge fire engulfing Manila shanty town

[probes]

Must have been real horror.

Somehow reminds me that the Great Fire of London had allegedly started from a bakery?

[Ex-Ascot]

Must have been real horror.

Somehow reminds me that the Great Fire of London had allegedly started from a bakery?

The King's Baker.

[tango15]

Filipinos/as are lovely people, but it is a chaotic country. Back in the 70s, I arrived at my hotel in Manila, and quickly became aware of gunshots not too far away. Our local agent informed me that the police and customs were involved in a shootout at the port.
Those houses are made of combustible materials, (wood mainly), and have cooking stoves usually fuelled by gas bottles, so I can only imagine how easily the fire spread, with little or no chance of the emergency services being able to get near them.