Fire guts government building in mountain barangay

A ONE-STORY building owned by the Cebu City Government in the mountain barangay of Taptap was destroyed by fire last Sunday night.

There were no other structures nearby.

Damage to the building that housed the Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (Cremdec) was pegged at P700,000. No one was injured in the blaze that started past 10 p.m.

Mayor Michael Rama, though, said in a news conference yesterday in Taptap that the one-storey building will be demolished and the property cleared.

Rama said he wants the estimated 2,000-square-meter property cleared of debris so the City can use the property as a depot for equipment to be used for the city’s mountain barangays in the north and south districts.

A fire truck will also be stationed in the area to respond to emergencies in the city’s mountain areas.

Rama also wants to construct either a City Hall satellite office or a three-storey, 45-bed capacity Cremdec dormitory.

Rama said he doesn’t want the building repaired as its foundations may have been weakened by the fire.

The building was used as a Barangay Health Center of Taptap, field office of the City Agriculture’s Office, and administrative office of Cremdec.

Chronology

Rama has instructed Hillyland Management Board executive director Leo Maglasang yesterday to submit a report to his office regarding the incident.

I want to know the chronology of events,” he said.

SFO2 Dindo Gabutan of the Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP) 7 said the cause of the fire will still be investigated.

The first alarm fire was received at 10:46 p.m.

Gabutan said only two fire trucks of the BFP 7 and two other fire brigade volunteers of Barangays Apas and Sambag were sent to Barangay Tap-tap.

“The area is remote, so only those fire trucks were deployed,” Gabutan said in Cebuano.

Gabutan said the fire started in the room of the health center office.

Explosion

In an interview yesterday, Cremdec security guard, Glecerio Sardoncillo Jr. said he heard a loud explosion at the health center around 10:20 p.m.

Sardoncillo them immediately rushed to the site but said that he together with another
civilian, could no longer contain the fire.

“That’s why we called for the fire brigade,” he said in Cebuano.

However, Sardoncillo said the trucks only arrived at the area around 11 p.m. and the whole building was on fire.

Sardoncillo cannot blame the fire fighters, though, since Taptap is far from the city proper. Taptap is said to be 13 kilometers from the city.

Sardoncillo said five fire trucks responded to the incident. The first that arrived is the fire truck from Sambag 1.

Maglasang said among those destroyed by fire were 10 computers from Cremdec, printers,
projectors, televisions and other office supplies.

The barangay health center also lost various medicines and vaccines. Because of the fire, the health center will be temporarily transferred to the barangay hall.