Fire broke out in Malaca?ang yesterday, the second in the week, after an underground power line was hit by workers who were laying pipes on a sidewalk.

Flames shot out from a manhole across the Arias Gate?entrance for Palace visitors?followed by a power transformer explosion at the corner of Aguado and JP Laurel streets.

The blaze started at 12:10 noon but was put under control before 1 p.m.

A brief power outage hit Executive Guest House where Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita holds office and the New Executive Building which houses the Office of the Press Secretary.

The fire occurred two days after the office of deputy presidential spokesman Lorelie Fajardo at the Tahanan ng Masa Building was gutted due to a short-circuitting wire of a photocopying machine. Joyce Pangco Pa?ares, Jing Villamente