CALASIAO – The fire that razed to the ground the whole municipal building of Calasiao including the Shrine of the Senor Divino Tesoro at dawn of September 15 started at the second floor of the edifice.

This was reported by Fire Chief  Inspector Emilio Langkay , the town’s fire marshal – himself under fire for the poor response time of his department to the emergency –to the municipal council headed by Vice Mayor Ferdinand Galang on Monday.

Langkay said his fire investigators indicated the fire originated between the offices of the municipal mayor and the sangguniang bayan.

Initially tagged as the cause of the blaze was faulty electrical wiring as the fire spread so fast.

Some P100 million worth of damages was reported in the three-hour fire.

The burned building alone was estimated costing P72 million while the office fixtures including air-conditioning units and voluminous documents and supplies were placed at around P32 million.

Also burned was the shrine and graven image of Senor Divino Tesoro Foundation.

A caretaker, Warlito Maningding, was the only person inside the municipal building when the fire started. Firemen said they had to wake him up from his sleep when the fire was just starting.

Langkay was put under investigation for the delayed response of the fire station which was located just behind the burned municipal hall.

He was also reported to have arrived at the scene of the fire only at 4:30 a.m. or three hours after the fire broke out at around 1:30 a.m. .

Deputy Fire Marshal FO3 Jose Carino remains at the intensive care unit of the Villaflor Doctors Memorial Hospital in Dagupan after he collapsed from suffocation while battling the fire.