2 women,infant saved from fire

TWO families lost the home they shared when a fire hit Sitio San Roquenian Uno in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City early last night.

Two elderly women were feared trapped inside the house but safely got out, and a two-month-old baby was also rescued.

No one was injured, but the two families lost an estimated P75,000 worth of properties when the fire gutted the one-storey house.

Rain kept the flames from spreading to neighboring houses made of light materials in the densely populated area. Although they struggled with the narrow roads, firefighters managed to put out the blaze.

Cebu City Fire Marshall Aderson Comar said they received the alarm at 6:06 p.m. and declared the fire under control at 6:30 p.m.

Several volunteer fire brigades helped government firefighters at the scene, which Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama also visited.

Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, head of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), directed all police stations to send police to decongest traffic and control curious onlookers.

Fire officials have yet to find out what caused the blaze.

For 12 years now, the house has reportedly been left in the care of Arlene Cabanes, 40.

Cabanes had just attended a mass in the San Roque Parish Church, a few meters from her residence, when the fire flared up.

“I ran hard for my mother, who was left in the house,” she said, when she saw fire trucks entering their area.

Her 78-year-old mother Jacinta suffers from arthritis and finds it painful to walk unassisted. It took her some time to locate her mother, who got out with the neighbors’ help.

Cabanes alleged that caretaker Panfila Ngujo, 67, left some cooking unattended inside the house.

Ngujo, however, said it was faulty electrical wiring that caused the blaze.

She said she had just finished cooking and was attending to her grandson Juiz, two months old, while the child’s mother Susan went to two malls and joined singing competitions.

She also rushed home when she learned about the fire through a text message.

Both families lost all their valuables in the fire, the 12th to hit Cebu City so far this month.