Vo Van Hanh, chairman of the Nam Can Commune People's Committee (CPC), said on the afternoon of 25/9 that the damage to the bank branch (at the corner of Nguyen Tat Thanh and An Duong Vuong streets) was mainly to the exterior, upper floor, and some documents and equipment, with an estimated loss of 400 million VND. The branch will be quickly repaired to reopen on Monday next week.

The hardware store and the bank branch after the fire. Photo: Chuc Ly

According to Hanh, the other two houses that burned down were a general store and a hardware store, and the damage is difficult to assess, which is taking time. "Initially, the province supported each household with 5 million VND, and the commune supported 3 million VND," the chairman said, adding that authorities were helping residents clean up and restore their lives.

Mac Van Huong, the owner of the hardware store affected by the spreading fire, said a preliminary estimate of the damage to property and belongings in the house exceeded one billion VND. Most of the goods were burned and cannot be salvaged.

"My house, built about two years ago at a cost of nearly 1.5 billion VND, has to be demolished and rebuilt because the prolonged heat severely damaged the walls and metal structure, making it uninhabitable," Huong said, adding that he has rented the next-door unit to prepare for resuming business. His family is cleaning the burned house.

Ms. Duong (daughter of the owner of the first house that caught fire) said that after the fire, her family is staying with relatives. She is mobilizing efforts to clean up damaged belongings and assess the losses. Due to the extensive work involved, the family is unsure whether they will continue to live in the damaged house.

The fire broke out in the early morning of 22/9 at a general store on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street and then spread to the adjacent house and bank branch. It took more than an hour to control the blaze. The two burned-down houses have a total area of over 250 m2. The bank branch is 20 m long and 4 m wide, with one ground floor and two upper floors.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined by the police.

Chuc Ly