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The Grande Apartelle is located downtown at the corner of Taft Avenue and Pedro Gil Street in Manila. It is a seven-story structure with 114 rooms. It was constructed and opened for business in 1935. In recent years, the hotel has been in an obvious state of decline, unable to compete with newer facilities in the city and with the convenience of hotels located along the mainroads. Many of the apartelle rooms have been rented on long-term leases, often to elderly persons who like its location, which is more convenient for them, since many of the facilities that they use are in walking distance, and jeeps and buses are available for other trips they want.

Last night, a fire struck the apartelle, killing three people. The cause of the fire is undetermined. It started in a third floor room. It spread and destroyed the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors before it were brought under control at 4:30 a.m. today. At about 11 p.m., a tenant called the guard at the passkey to enter the third floor room where the fire originated and found it engulfed in flames. The room is believed to have been vacant at the time. The guard sounded the fire alarm and called for fire fighters. It turned out as the biggest fire that the city had in the past 10 years. Every piece of fire fighting equipment in the city was rushed to the scene and even off-duty firefighters were called in to assist. Fortunately, said Fire Chief Roberto Rico, no other fires were reported at the same time or he would have to send only a truck and some firemen to the scene of the blaze. The Grande Apartelle’s records show that 62 people were registered at the time of the blaze: 49 had long-term leases and 13 were transients. All of the transients were located at the second floor and escaped safely. The dead, all of whom had long-term leases, were identified as Mildred Haro, 59; Wilie Nogero, 76; and Pearly Perez, 47. The bodies of the three victims were found at the fourth floor where they lived. Rico said that the apartelle was totally damaged and that some of its walls were in danger of collapse. “The fire was already out of our hands when we arrived at the scene. I was called from home and by then the flames were breaking out of the fourth and the fifth floor windows. We were lucky that there were not more people killed, but the apartelle maintenance employees were able to knock of the doors of the stairway. We were also lucky that elevators kept working for a while even after my men got into the building, otherwise the loss would have been much worse. I am also told that the two top floors were empty and that helped keep the loss of lives down,” said the fire chief. Caritas Manila is caring for the survivors, finding them new rooms and providing clothes and emergency allocations of cash, a total of PhP1 000 per person. Five people were injured, including one firefighter who suffered from smoke inhalation. The others suffered from burns, some serious, and from smoke inhalation. Three are being treated at the Philippine General Hospital. Two have been released, including the firefighter. Their names and conditions are unknown at this time.


INTERVIEW

Nora Cortez, 76, has been a resident of the apartelle for the past nine years. She paid PhP1 550 a month for rent for one room on the fifth floor. A retired accountant, she said afterwards: “The rent was a bit steep for me, but it was a charming old building where I had a lot of good friends living there. I was asleep last night when I heard someone pounding on my door. I do not know who he was, but he told me to get out of the building fast and I did. All I had were my robe and my pajamas, but I could see the smoke, even up there on the fifth floor and I was scared. I knew right away that it was bad. Everyone else was scared too, but we all knew what to do. We would talk lots about what we would do if ever there was a fire because we often hear of fires in old buildings, and we wanted to be prepared. We all planned to go through the back stairway if the fire was not there and it was not. The lights were still on so we did not have to use flashlights. Now Caritas put me in an apartment a few blocks away, and I guess I should be happy that I am safe, but I lost everything—my clothes, photographs, memorabilias, andf my little money that I had hidden in a secret place. My husband is dead, you know, and I lost all my photos and my mementos of him. I do not know what I will do now; I do not have any children. I am all by myself, except for my friends, and they all lived at the Grande with me.”