Fuego na Camino Nuevo

I remember walking along our barangay's main street and being confronted by a road jammed with all sort of vehicles. tricycles, jeepneys, trucks, firetrucks and noticeably, hundreds, if not thousands of people from all directions. I maneuvered my way through the clogged street looking not at the blazing inferno but at the faces of the people. Almost everyone was on a frantic mood, onlookers were everywhere, by standers filled the side walk with dazed expressions on their faces, two men and a huge refrigerator on their shoulders, that must have been the adrenaline rush they're talking about, a confused looking child watching over a huge heap of household materials, a firetruck from afar on continued siren, sounding desperate as it tried to close its distance slowly towards Camino Nuevo, trying not to kill anyone in the process.

I recognized a couple of college students sitting on the side of the road with pieces of luggage. I thought perhaps they were boarding somewhere near the school. One of the girl was crying and most of them had tears in their eyes. I thought them fortunate they were alive and more fortunate than the families I noticed who seemed to have lost their only home. I turned towards where the fire was and saw a huge mushroom of white smoke. It was massive. And i realized how far i have come along from our house, I must have walked a kilometer because from where I stood I can already see the school. I have lost any sense of distance with all the commotion and the crowd, and it was almost impossible to reach the city by wheels.

I don't recall the last time I've been to Camino Nuevo. It is too enclosed from the outside and as far as I know, there are only two entry roads wide enough for any firetruck to pass through. and one would not know that there are actually thousands of houses built in light materials cramped side by side together in that area.

It's ironic that a tiny little candle that was supposed to be an offering to a sto. niño, could annihilate more than a thousand houses in a five hectare area in just six hours. With the help of strong winds that agitated the fire ten folds and the human and vehicle traffic that totally delayed and crippled the fire fighters, one could only watch helplessly as the houses disappeared one by one.

And it's ironic that Camino Nuevo, which literally translates to "New Road" had to deal with the most notorious problem encountered by fire fighters. Well, the lack of roads.

After a few sticks of cigarette, I walked my way home. peeking every once in a while to see if there's already a need to start packing up. Fortunately, there was none.