Wednesday, April 02, 2008 Freak fire destroys 5 impounded vehicles
FIVE vehicles kept inside the impounding yard of the Cebu City Government at the North Reclamation Area were destroyed in a fire past 10 a.m. yesterday.
SFO1 Delfin Abella, Parian Fire Station investigator, said the fire razed three passenger jeepneys, one barangay multicab and one jiffy. No information was available on what offenses their owners had committed that led to the vehicles’ getting impounded.
The vehicles were reportedly part of those identified for auction by the City Government.
Firefighters received the alarm at 10:45 a.m. and declared the blaze under control one minute later.
Cebu City Hall won’t replace nor pay for the damage to the impounded vehicles, unless the court says otherwise.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña said that the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) personnel in charge of the facility have taken care of the vehicles to prevent pilferage.
But since the incident was a “simple act of nature” that resulted in spontaneous combustion of the tires, the mayor said he does not think the City should be held responsible for the damage.
Besides, he added, the vehicles were impounded because of unpaid fines for traffic violations.
Only one firetruck managed the firefighting as the flames were contained before other teams arrived.
Initial investigation by Abella indicated that the fire started from a pile of garbage about one meter away from a pile of dilapidated tires.
As to what triggered the fire, Abella said, that is still being investigated. A cigarette butt would have been enough to trigger it, he said.
“Wala man kuno’y nagdaub. Mikayo ra siya (There were no bonfires. They said the fire just started on its own),” he said in a telephone interview.
Traffic enforcer Ronaldo Turla, who serves as a shift supervisor of the Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN) volunteers detailed at the site, said he was radioed about the fire and immediately requested for help from the fire department.
Auction
“We will not pay unless the court says it was our fault,” Osmeña said when asked if the City will spend to repair the vehicles.
“I presume that if there is gross negligence on our part in taking care of the vehicles, maybe we will have some liability but if we should be maintaining it to be in running condition, I don’t think so. It’s a simple act of nature when something ignites. I don’t think we should be responsible for that,” he told reporters.
In his news conference yesterday, the mayor said impounded vehicles should be auctioned if the owners or drivers refuse to pay the fines for their violations.
Citom was only enforcing the law when the vehicles were confiscated, but the City is not in the business of impounding vehicles, he said.
“There’s just too many vehicles at the impounding area. I think those impounded vehicles should be sold. We’re not interested in impounding them, we’re just enforcing the law,” Osmeña added. (JST/LCR)
