The cause of a 14-hour blaze that left one person dead and razed an estimated P29 million worth of properties in Bacolod City Saturday was still being traced by fire bureau investigators yesterday.

FO3 Harry Fernandez of the Bureau of Fire Protection said they are eyeing all angles, including arson, in the fire that started at about 3:25 a.m. Saturday and killed Levina Cordero, 88, and burned down a three-storey warehouse at Narra Extension, corner B.S. Aquino Drive , in the city.

Firefighters from all the city's fire stations, and the Amity and Chamber brigades, tried to hose down the flames, Fernandez said, but Cordero, of La Castellana, Negros Occidental, was later found dead in the makeshift eatery adjacent to the warehouse that she shared with her grandchildren.

He said Cordero may have fallen down because of the heat and the smoke and was prevented from escape because of the bamboo fence around the structure, as well as a trisikad that blocked the only other exit from the restaurant.

Her grandchildren managed to get out, however, Fernandez said.

Fire trucks from the Silay and Talisay city stations also helped but the blaze burned groceries, paper products, two sports utility vehicles, and a delivery truck owned by two marketing firms in the Bacolod . It was finally put out at about 5:55 p.m. on the same day, he added.

Fernandez said they had a hard time putting out the flames because of the volume of items in the structure and because its two upper portions collapsed into its ground floor.

He said they are investigating the cause of the fire, and are also looking into arson because of a conflict between the marketing company management and their employees.*PP

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