DAVAO CITY — The Office of the First Congressional District Rep. Paolo Duterte, through the Pulong Pulong ni Pulong (PPP) program, distributed on Tuesday afternoon, hot meals and food packs to the fire victims in Barangay Tomas Monteverde in Agdao of the second district here.

Duterte's office immediately responded to the affected areas to assess the situation and distribute hot porridge and food packs (rice, canned goods, bottled water, and other necessities) to affected families of the fire incident.

According to the Davao City Fire District Station, there are 235 houses gutted down after a massive fire that lasted for more than two hours hit Zones 5 and 6 in the said area, leaving hundreds of families homeless.

Senior Fire Officer 4 Ramil Gillado, spokesperson for the Davao City Fire District Station, said the fire originated from the ceiling of the second floor of William Varona's house past 7:00 a.m. The fire escalated to the nearby homes made of light materials.

Gillado said the firefighters controlled the fire past 9 a.m. He added that they had difficulty putting off the fire due to limited space in the alley heading to the affected areas. Consequently, they lost valuable seconds to extinguish the fire promptly.

Initial investigation by the Davao City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) revealed that faulty electrical wiring was the cause of the fire, which reached a third alarm before it was declared under control by the firefighters. The total damage caused by the fire is worth P1.6 million.

"Not a single person got injured in the incident," Gillado said.

The barangay personnel temporarily sheltered the affected families at the covered court while the Davao City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) assessed the total number of affected residents.

Dana Robles, a Sangguniang Kabataan member and resident of the same barangay, posted on her Facebook page asking for in-kind donations for the fire victims. He added that the incident affected some of her fellow SK members.