A candle lighted to remember a loved one on All Saints' Day instead caused tragedy and grief when it triggered nearly a three-hour blaze that killed 16 people in a densely populated area in Bacolod City before dawn Monday.

At least four other fires occurred in Mandaluyong City, Quezon City, Surigao del Sur and Cavite from Sunday until early Monday, with at least another person hurt in the Surigao del Sur incident.

Police and arson probers in Bacolod City said a candle may have been lit late Sunday night in one of the houses in a depressed area in Purok Mabinuligon Mahinowaon in Barangay 19 that triggered the deadly conflagration.

“There’s no reported power outage there, the investigation conducted revealed that the candle was lighted by one of the residents there for the All Saints' Day,” said Senior Inspector Noel Polines, chief of operations of the Bacolod City police in a phone interview.

“The candle might have been left unattended until it caused the fire several hours later,” he added.

President Arroyo Monday extended her condolences with the families of those who perished in the fire.

Presidential deputy spokesman Anthony Golez said the President directed the local government units of Bacolod and Negros Occidental to provide immediate assistance to the fire victims.

“The President is extending sympathies and condolences to the families of those who died in one of the worst fire incidents in Bacolod city early dawn this morning,” he said in a press briefing.

Polines of the Bacolod police said local residents started to panic at around 1:30 a.m. Monday upon seeing fire engulfing the house a certain Morita Depakakibo and which was starting to creep towards the adjacent houses.

The official said the blaze immediately spread because houses in the area were all made of light materials. He said at least 47 houses were razed and several people were trapped inside.

He added that 14 victims were initially retrieved from the scene but two more cadavers were recovered when arson probers and local residents sifted through the charred houses when the fire was finally controlled at 4 a.m.

“It is not easy to identify all of them because they were all burned beyond recognition,” said Polines.

The reason behind the big number of fatalities, he said, was that the victims may have been caught unawares as the fire happened in the wee hours of the morning while they were in deep slumber.

Chief Inspector Rico Santotome, spokesman of the Negros Occidental Police, said the fire prompted firefighters from nearby areas and cities to respond and help put out the blaze.

In Tandag, Surigao del Sur, at least one person was wounded while some R800,000 worth of property went up in smoke when fire razed several houses in Barangay Telaje at around 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Chief Inspector Nelly Villagracia, information officer of the CARAGA Police, said the blaze lasted for at least 45 minutes.

“The cause of fire is believed to be faulty wirings,” said Villagarcia.

In Mandaluyong, property worth P3 million was destroyed when fire of still unknown origin gutted an ancestral house in the city Monday morning.

No one was reported hurt or injured in the more than two-hour fire that struck the Torres residence at 152 Lopez Rizal St., Barangay Highway Hills.

Arson investigator FO3 Victorio Tablay said the fire started at around 7:30 a.m. and easily consumed the old house that was made of wood and other light materials.

In Cavite, a three-hour fire gutted a merchandise warehouse in Dasmarinas town, the local fire department said. It was the second fire to hit the province in two days.

Inspector Pio P. Espinola, Dasmarinas deputy fire marshal, said no one was inside the Itan de Luz Warehouse on Amuntay Area in Barangay Zone 3 when the fire broke out at 10:20 p.m. Sunday. The warehouse stored computer central processing units (CPUs), washing machines and air-conditioning units for sale.

Espinola, citing a report, said a security guard had locked the warehouse gate when he left the area on All Saints’ Day.

Initial investigation revealed that a defective electrical wire may have triggered the warehouse fire but arson was not ruled out.

In Quezon City, fire also hit a row of houses along Liberty Avenue in Cubao Sunday night.