July 5, 2015, 11:20 p.m.; updated July 6, 2015, 4:52 a.m. – FIRE broke out Sunday night at the St. Raymund
de Peñafort building inside the University of Santo Tomas.
According to Reynaldo Marcelino, deputy chief of the Manila
Fire Department, fire started around 8:40 p.m. in the
building that houses the College of Commerce and Business Administration and the Faculty of Arts and
Letters.
The fire department arrived around 9:12 p.m. when fire was already at the fourth alarm, Marcelino said. Firemen declared fire out around 10 p.m.
The Central Student Council said on its Twitter account that fire started at the fourth floor, in Room 405, where there was a pantry. Rooms 403, 405, 407, and 409 were affected by the fire, it added.
Room 407 housed the offices of the Commerce dean, regent, secretary, and office staff. Room 409 was the office for department chairpersons.
The University’s official Facebook page said “Only a small portion of the fourth floor was damaged.”
In a statement, the administration said classes in the building would be
suspended on July 6, but offices would be opened.
Marcelino said they had yet to determine the cause of the
fire. Rhenn Anthony S. Taguiam with reports from Alvin Joseph Kasiban and
Miah Terrenz Provido
