ALBAWABA - Massive fire tore through Manila's historic post office building late on Sunday, causing severe damage to the historic landmark in the capital city of the Philippines.
After daunting 7 hours of battling the blazing fires, firefighters were finally able to put out what the Bureau of Fire Protection classified as a level 6 fire alarm.
“It’s very saddening because this is such an important part of our history,” Nahum B. Tarroza, director of the National Capital Region’s Bureau of Fire Protection, told reporters later Monday.
The fire started in the basement and tore everything all the way to the third floor of Manila's historic building. Official authorities will be launching an investigation into the fire, while not ruling out the possibility of an arson or an electric fault.
The building was named “important cultural property” in 2018, meaning the country’s oldest post office was of “exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines,” according to CNN Philippines.
Built back in 1926 and designed by Filipino architects Juan M. Arellano and Tomás Mapúa, the post office building sits in the old Manila town near the Pasig River that flows through the city.
