UBAY – A two – hour fire early dawn of Good Friday destroyed 22 houses and business establishments in the seaside fringe of Ubay's market complex leaving an estimated property damage of P3 million. Lawyer Tomas Abapo, Jr. who was in a Lenten break in his hometown broke the fire story to the Post as soon as it was under control. The blaze raged for two hours and it was put under control behind the combined efforts of at least seven fire departments. Fire trucks from as far as Clarin and Tubigon joined firefighters of Talibon, Carmen and Ubay to put out the flames that threatened other structures near its raging path.

Two fire trucks of Marcela Farms, a part of Alturas Group, also played a key role in putting out the fire. What saved the day for Ubay for the fire to become full-blown conflagration was the westerly wind that blew from the direction of the town's public market. Had the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, the densely-populated area surrounding the public market would have been gobbled up. Only a portion of the inhabited area on both sides of the road leading to the pier was razed to the ground. Initial investigation showed that the fire was blamed to a faulty electrical wiring. Damage to property was not as extensive as most of the houses were built of light materials. One of the houses razed to the ground was that of Ubay Councilor Maximo Boiser, Jr. Abapo, the provincial administrator acted in behalf of his town mate Gov. Erico Aumentado in directing the firefighting operations.