A seven-hour fire caused by an unattended lighted candle gutted the public market of Naga City in Camarines Sur province, Thursday night.

Fire investigators said several witnesses told them a lighted candle at the public market's vegetable section started the fire around 11 p.m.

The whole Camarines Sur province was in total darkness due to a blackout when the fire broke out in the market.

Firemen said the fire from the vegetable section quickly spread to the meat and fish sections, which has stalls made of light materials.

The fire reached the general alarm after consuming the totally razing the second and third floors of the public market. The fire was put out after seven hours.

The power outage in Camarines Sur started around 9 p.m. after oil leaked and damaged the 100 mega volt ampere transformer of the National Transmission Corporation's (Transco) sub-station in Naga City.

Nilda Somera, Transco-Bicol corporate spokeswoman, had said that it would take time to fix the damage, which meant the blackout may last overnight. With reports from Jonathan Magistrado and Gerard Lorbes, ABS-CBN Naga