Officials of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) are still conducting an investigation to determine the cause of a fire at a Virac subdivision that led to the death of a resident last Monday, June 17, 2026.
Personnel of the Virac Fire Station were still at the scene at St. John Village in barangay Calatagan Tibang where the blaze reduced the residence of Rowena Trinidad and her family.
A member of the family who was reportedly asleep was unable to get out and perished in the fire.
It is the first fire incident with a fatality since the Jan. 4, 2022 blaze in Concepcion, Virac that destroyed a two-storey building and killed four members of the same family.
The BFP is expected to release the results of the probe within the week.
Meanwhile, the families of the two individuals found dead recently in separate incidents waived their right to an autopsy of their kin’s bodies.
Drin Nhadz Salon stay-helper Marites Bitome, 49, a native of Bislig, San Andres was found unresponsive inside the shop along Rizal Avenue, San Jose, Virac in the morning of June 14.
The night before, she went out for a drinking session and returned at 9 PM, repeatedly vomiting and not feeling well.
Four days later in Palnab del Norte, the body of El Shaddai head preacher Bernabe Landingan, 47, of Imus, Cavite, at the church where he had been working since the day before. His wife said the ailing man had been told to refrain from strenuous activities.