Monday, March 26, 2007 Blaze traps, kills 7 By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Linette C. Ramos & Nancy R. Cudis
SEVEN members of a Filipino-Chinese family, five of them children, were killed when a fire engulfed their house in Barangay Cogon-Pardo, Cebu City yesterday dawn.
They were all asleep in their rooms when the fire broke out in the first floor past 1 a.m., leaving them trapped in the upper floor.
The house was beside the victims’ factory, where pancit bihon noodles and ice cream cones are manufactured.
The fire did not spread to other buildings because the house was isolated inside the Eastern Enterprises compound.
Stay-in worker Emerito Mayormata told fire investigators that he tried to rescue Ellen Chua Tiu, 44, when he saw her from the second floor window.
But by the time he managed to destroy the iron grills, the flames had become uncontrollable and Tiu was nowhere in sight.
She was later found on the floor near the window.
The other casualties, who were either found in the bathrooms or still huddled in bed, were identified as Ying-ying Chan, 70, Kenneth Quie, 9, Karen Quie, 14, Arvin Chua, 13, Al John Chua, 12, and Ada Chua, 16.
Mayormata said flames were already licking the entire first floor by the time he woke up.
Other family members did not immediately notice that the victims were missing during the fire because of the ensuing chaos.
The victims’ charred remains are now at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Barangay Lahug.
Only Chan and Tiu were recognizable.
Fire investigators considered the blaze as the worst so far this month because of the number of casualties.
Although there was no request for assistance, City Hall sent social workers to the fire scene yesterday to check how City Hall can help the Chuas and their workers.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he asked the City Disaster Coordinating Council to check on the factory workers’ condition.
Some workers who were sleeping in a building next to the house reportedly suffered minor injuries during the fire, but Carillo has yet to verify the report.
“We have to assess first if there is any need for assistance from City Hall. I heard there are workers who had minor injuries so we’ll check if they would need our help and what form of assistance we can give,” he said in a phone interview.
The Bureau of Fire Protection advised that when there is fire, one should get down and crawl out to find the exit if the escape path is no longer visible because of thick smoke.
Because smoke rises, air is clearer at ground level.
Vehicles
Supt. Esmael Codilla, city fire marshal, said they are still looking into all possible angles as to the cause of the fire. Witnesses could not immediately point to the origin of the blaze.
One family member, however, told homicide investigators that they heard an explosion from the first floor, which is the Eastern Enterprises office.
They believe an appliance may have caused a spark that quickly spread after office documents caught fire.
Aside from the house, the fire also burned an L300 van and a Mitsubishi Pajero.
Damage caused by the fire, which was placed under second alarm, was pegged at P900,000.
Aside from the Cebu City fire stations, help likewise came from the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade and the Sto. Niño Volunteer Fire Brigade.
2 more
In another incident shortly before noon yesterday, fire hit a warehouse on T. Padilla Extension, Cebu City.
It was, however, immediately placed under control.
The Cenapro warehouse contained discarded tires, which triggered the blaze.
Later, at 6:06 p.m., a fire was reported in an auto shop in Happy Valley Subdivision, also in Cebu City.
Investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire, which was contained after two minutes.
According to employee Larry Busaing, the cause could have been faulty electrical wiring, which was not repaired when the shop moved into the property a month ago.
After he heard an explosion, the flames leapt to the ceiling of the auto shop and on to the walls and roof of an adjacent building.
A Mitsubishi Lancer and a public utility jeepney were badly damaged.
Total damage to property was pegged at around P90,000.
The auto shop, owned by Bebe Masong, began renting the lot owned by Elena Du Horantilla last month. The place was reportedly unoccupied for four months before the auto shop rented it.
