After a relatively early night enforced by yet another 'brown-out', I was woken up midnight-ish by what sounded like a very badly organised marching band .. it wasn't a dream - the sound didn't go away and after a while I decided to investigate.
Looking outside I could see a bright orange glow in the sky, and the tops of the tallest palmtrees were clearly illuminated. The Gasan Public Market had somehow caught fire.
I didn't have my camera handy (left it in Tabi) and the video camera only had enough power for a couple of shots, but here's one anyway.
The public market was totally destroyed - most of poblacion's populace was at the scene, together with fire engines from Gasan and even Buenavista. People could be seen desperately trying to salvage stock from the stores at the fringes of the fire. Incredibly even the central
fish/meat market area, which consists mostly of concrete tables seemed to be on fire.
It seems nobody was hurt, fire engines turned up promptly, and the fire did not spread beyond the central market area ie. the surrounding shops are unharmed. Let's hope the market can be rebuilt - it's my first destination every morning at 6am for a dalawang portion of lugaw.
I'll post more photos as soon as i'm properly online ..
