Improperly stored materials, including car batteries, at the lower ground of the Manila Central Post Office and lack of ventilation contributed to the blaze that gutted the nearly 100-year-old structure, an official of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said Tuesday.

Fire Chief Superintendent Nahum Tarroza, director of BFP-NCR, said temperature was around 40 degrees centigrade.

''Storage (rooms) should not contain scattered items. Even if some things are not functioning anymore, these should be arranged. Storage for car batteries should not be close to the floor,'' he told dzBB.

The batteries could catch fire, said Tarroza, as what happened to the post office.

The Manila Central Post Office caught fire on May 21 and took nearly two days for fire fighters to put out. Damage was estimated between P300 million to P500 million.

Arson was ruled out, said Tarroza, who said the blaze was a result of accident and poor storage of material.

''Napabayaan ang stock room because it is not being cleaned. Incompetency because they do not know how to store items,'' he said.

Tarroza said the BFP gave the Manila Central Post Office enough time to comply with the Fire Code. ''We issued a notice to them to comply, '' he said, adding that it was in 2018 when the BFP last issued a notice to comply. DMS