MANILA, Philippines?Relatives of a woman and her 22-year-old niece will spend the New Year in mourning after the two died in a fire that struck their Las Piñas home Sunday.

Chief Insp. Robert Pacis of the Las Piñas Fire Department said the bodies of victims Carol del Rosario, 45, and Hazel Bautista were found in the second-floor bathroom, where they took refuge when fire broke out at their home on 26 Dolores Street, CRM, Almanza 2, around 7:45 a.m.

The fire reached only the first alarm and was put out 45 minutes later, but the victims were unable to escape. ?They were trapped because all the windows on the second floor had grills,? Pacis said.

Arson investigators put the estimated damages to property at P3 million.

They were also informed about a loud explosion that preceded the fire.

Prior to the incident, the Las Piñas fire chief said a brownout occurred around 4-5 a.m. and affected only the house owned by Luz Bautista del Rosario.

?The outage affected the service entrance to their home. We know that Meralco?s personnel came to fix the problem but we could not confirm yet if they were still working on it or if they had already left when the explosion happened,? he said, adding they had difficulty interviewing the relatives, who were still disoriented at the time.

The fire likely began in the dining and kitchen area because it was the significantly burnt part of the house, Pacis explained.

He said they would further investigate the power outage to determine the actual cause of fire.