At least 3,000 people were rendered homeless after a fire razed a slum area in Navotas early Friday morning, television and radio reports said.

The fire that started at about 3 a.m. razed 763 houses made of light materials in Barangay Daang Hari, a village in the northern Metro Manila town near the Manila Bay, the reports said.

In an interview on dzBB radio, Mayor Reynald Tobias Tiangco, quoting the barangay chairman, said the fire started in the house of a couple who left a candle burning while they were selling fish in a nearby market.

Tiangco said most of the residents have resorted to using candles after the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) disconnected electricity in the depressed area where jumpers were found connected to electric posts.

He said a recent fire also razed more that 1,000 houses in an adjacent area.

As the cable TV ad goes, "Kaya huwag maging kabit. Magpakabit ng tama."