Tuesday, April 15, 2008 P1.5M in houses, properties eaten up in Sawang Calero blaze
LESS than 24 hours after three fires hit different areas in Cebu City last Sunday, another fire destroyed around 50 houses in Barangay Sawang Calero yesterday afternoon.
Two persons—a resident in the area and a firefighter from Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade—were injured in the blaze.
The firefighter was identified as Marc Anthony Rañola, 41. He was taken to a private hospital to treat his right shoulder. He has been declared out of danger.
Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla, who supervised the firefighting operation yesterday, said he immediately raised the status to general alarm considering that Sawang Calero is categorized as a densely-populated area where access roads are narrow.
The Bureau of Fire Protection in Cebu City received the call for assistance at 3:34 p.m.
The affected houses were located along Block 6, Sto. Niño Chapel.
According to the information gathered by fire investigator SFO2 Alikasem Espinola from Barangay Councilor Joselito Echevari, the site was named after the chapel in the area. The chapel was also damaged in yesterday’s incident.
Firefighters from the city fire department, with the help of the Filipino-Chinese Fire Brigade and Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation, contained the blaze in 29 minutes.
A chopper also helped douse the fire by pouring loads of water from the air.
Fire Marshal Codilla pegged the destroyed property at P1.5 million.
He was thankful that no one died.
Two lives have already been lost to this month’s fires, which now number five.
A 17-year-old boy with special needs died last Friday after flames engulfed his house in Barangay Bonbon. Last Sunday, a woman identified only as a certain Taling also died in a fire in V. Rama Ave., Calamba.
In yesterday’s fire, both Codilla and Espinola said the rowdy crowd hampered their firefighting operation.
Apart from having a hard time penetrating the narrow paths, loiterers and onlookers also blocked the access roads.
One resident, out of anger, took a pail of water and dumped its contents on the crowd that gathered in the middle of the road just to shoo them away and allow a fire truck to pass.
Codilla said most of the water pipelines in the area were also either stolen or damaged, so water pressure was very low.
Initial information gathered by Espinola indicated that the fire started at the house owned by Sally Pacaña and occupied by the family of Nezel Compuesto.
He said they are still looking into the cause of fire, although they are not ruling out arson or an electrical short circuit.
He said there was also a report about two persons arguing wherein one of them threatened to set a house on fire.
“But all of these (allegations) are still being looked into,” Espinola said in Cebuano.
He said he will be inviting witnesses to help in the investigation.
The fire victims are temporarily sheltered in the barangay’s sports complex. (JST)
