By BEN SERRANO, Correspondent BUTUAN CITY — A fire last Wednesday afternoon razed at least 300 houses and has rendered 513 families or about 1,556 people homeless in Barangay Bongtud, Tandag City. Last Friday, Tandag Mayor Roxanne Pimentel made an appeal to the public for any donations from private organizations, kind hearted individuals and NGOs for food and non-food items such as blankets, used clothing, medicines mats and cooking utensils citing these are urgently needed. Tandag is about 220 kilometers away from this city. The City Fire Marshall Office confirmed that the conflagration took place at around 2:50 pm, Oct. 14 that burned at least 300 houses which were mostly made of light materials. Initial reports show the fire was declared under control after more than two hours but it was declared “fire out” at around 8:15 pm of the same day. The estimated cost of damage to properties was initially pegged at P30-m. Fire investigators are still looking at what cause the fire.