Sunday, January 13, 2008 P4M in properties lost in blaze
AN estimated P4 million worth of properties went up in smoke in a dawn fire that hit four establishments on Climaco St. in Barangay Pahina Central, Cebu City at dawn yesterday.
No one was reported hurt in the fire that lasted 52 minutes.
Yesterday’s incident was the first major fire to hit Cebu City this year.
Fire investigator SFO2 Felix Romero identified the affected establishments as AJP Unlimited Fashion, Imarflex Appliance, the back portion of Annie’s Bakeshop and Celedonio Bldg. occupied by a printing press, an eatery and a boarding house.
Romero has yet to get the names of the occupants of the building.
The fire destroyed the AJP Unlimited and damaged the rest. AJP Unlimited is into the garment business.
The Cebu City Fire Department received the alarm at 4:22 a.m.
At 4:49 a.m., the fire was placed under general alarm so that all fire trucks in the city and the neighboring fire stations in Metro Cebu could respond.
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Firefighters from Cebu Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade and the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation also arrived to help.
Romero learned from Susan Impel, a stay-in worker of AJP Unlimited that the fire started at the guest room at the ground floor.
Romero said he could not tell how old were the affected structures, but he recalled that when he was till in first year college, in 1975, the structures were already existing.
Romero said an electrical short-circuit may have caused the fire. But the fire department is not discounting other possible causes. He said his team gathered debris and other samples for examination. (JST)
