Three killed in Grande Hotel fire

Fire gutted the Grande Hotel in downtown

Quirino City Friday, killing three people and
injuring five others.

The blaze claimed the lives of Mildred

Haserot, 58; Willie Fernando, 67; and Pearl
Raymundo, 47, all long-term lessees living on
the fourth floor of the seven-storey structure.

Five people were injured including a fireman

who suffered from smoke inhalation. The
others suffered from burns, some serious, and
also from smoke inhalation. Three of the
injured are being treated at Mercy Hospital,
while two have been released, including the
fireman. The names of the victims were not
released.

It was the first five-alarm fire in Quirino City

in 10 years, with all firefighting equipment
rushed to the scene and all off-duty
firefighters called to assist.
Fire was declared under control at 4:30 a.m.,
more than five hours after the hotel lobby
was notified of the odor of smoke.

Fire chief Tony Guttierez told reporters this

morning that the hotel was a total loss and
some walls were in danger of collapse.

“The fire was already out of hand when our

first units reached the scene. I was called
from home and by then, the flames were
breaking out the third- and fourth-floor
windows,” Guttierez said.

The fire incident report said the cause of the

fire remained undetermined.

At around 11 p.m. Friday, a guest called the

hotel lobby to report the odor of smoke. A
hotel employee used a passkey to enter the
third-floor room where the fire was said to
have originated, and found it to be engulfed in
flames. The room was believed to have been
empty, the fire incident report said.
Fire quickly spread and destroyed the fourth,
fifth, sixth, and seventh floors. The top two
floors were empty.

The hotel, which had a total of 114 rooms,

had 62 guests at the time of the fire. Forty-
nine guests had long-term leases while 13
were transients. All transients, who were on
the second floor, escaped unharmed.

“We were really lucky there weren’t more

people killed, but the hotel people knocked on
the door of every room that was occupied to
get everybody out,” Guttierez said.

The Red Cross is caring for the survivors,

providing them new rooms as well as clothes
and food.