ZAMBOANGA CITY — A five-hour huge fire of still undetermined origin razed to ground an estimated 130 houses made of semi-concrete to light materials in Barangay Arena Blanco here and displaced an estimated 700 people.

Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief Dr. Elmier Apolinario on Monday reported that there were no casualties and wounded persons logged during the incident.

Initial reports disclosed that the fire broke out at about 8:39 a.m. on Monday at Sitio Campung Landang and Sibictul in the village of Arena Blanco.

Fire trucks from all over the city fire sub-stations rushed to Arena Blanco to help other firemen combat the fire and even private water tankers also rushed to the scene to supply water to firetrucks to continue putting out the fire and prevent it from scattering further in the village.

“Initially we have listed about 130 houses  all made of light materials that were burned and about 700 were displaced due to the incident,” Apolinario said. “The figure is just the initial in our records. Tagging  of names of the  fire victims is still ongoing and we feel that more than 700 people were affected by the huge fire.”

Zamboanga City firemen were able to control the fire at about 10:41 a.m. and subsequently declared a fire out at 12: 55 p.m..

Apolinario said the fire has razed an area of about two hectares lot in the village, sending all the victims initially to an evacuation center of the village.

It was observed that fire trucks were having difficulty yesterday reaching the burning site due to the many road repairs being undertaken by the city government leading to Barangay Arena Blanco.