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Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Baby, pa, fireman injured in Cebu town fire
By Mia E. Abellana
With Minerva B. Gerodias
CEBU CITY -- It took a fire truck from another local government unit to respond to a fire that broke out in a town, whose fire truck's key was missing.
The Toledo City Fire Station, led by Fire Marshal Randy Mendaros, received the alarm at 6:40 p.m. Monday, 20 minutes after policemen from the Pinamungajan Police Station was informed of the blaze.
The fire razed the house of Milagros Baricuatro Plarisan and damaged those of Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Glenn Baricuatro and Potenciano Gentapa.
Mendaros said they were told the key to the Pinamungajan Municipal Government's fire truck could not be found, which is why it could not be used to put out the flames.
However, a policeman assigned in the town told radio dyLA that the truck had run out of water because it was used to water the plants that day.
The plants around the town proper were being spruced up for the town fiesta on May 3 and 4.
The civilian driver hired to drive the truck also reportedly did not return the truck to the police station where it is normally parked, and left it at the motor pool instead.
When police were alerted of the fire, they had to trace where the truck's key was kept.
"I think the situation speaks for itself and it speaks for a thousand words. I need not add," Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said when sought for comment.
Last March 6, the truck was not used when a fire broke out in a house near the Sta. Monica Parish Church in Sitio Dakit, Poblacion because it was not in good condition.
Monday night's fire damaged an estimated P3.5 million worth of property.
It also injured a seven-month-old boy, the boy's father, and a fireman.
Samson Lao, 30, was on the first floor of Plarisan's house when the fire broke out.
He rushed all the children in the house to safety and then went up the stairs to rescue his son Nathaniel Alexis.
Both suffered first-degree burns in their arms and shoulders.
FO2 Silvestre Tiro Jr. also suffered first-degree burns in his hands after he was first to penetrate the burning house.
Tiro was holding the nozzle of the fire hose until it became too hot inside the house.
The fire was controlled in 20 minutes.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that a cheap ceiling fan was the cause of the blaze. The ceiling fan is the kind sold by Indian merchants for P50.
Mendaros said one of the children heard a noise at the back of the house and the next thing they knew, the house was on fire.
Initially, an employee of Cebeco III told police that there was electrical overloading.
Mendaros said he could not recall responding to a fire in Pinamungajan wherein they used the fire truck.
He said it was always the trucks assigned to Toledo City, Barili, and Balamban that responded to fires in Pinamungajan.
There are no Bureau of Fire Protection personnel assigned in Pinamungajan because the bureau could not provide a truck to the town.
The truck was not turned over to the BFP, which is why the neighboring towns with BFP personnel have jurisdiction over fires in Pinamungajan.
The Provincial Government is finalizing its arrangement with the BFP for the agency to provide personnel to all Capitol-owned fire trucks in the town.
Capitol has also purchased 12 fire trucks to be distributed to the different towns and the local government unit will take care of its maintenance.
Governor Garcia, however, is saddened by the fact that Pinamungajan Mayor Jeffrey Yapha has not been coordinating with the Capitol.
"They need to be constantly updated by the programs and projects that we are now implementing. We need their response. They need to know what we are doing and they need to know how relevant these programs are to the needs of their constituents. I am open to any mayor or any official who, in the performance of his duties would need the assistance of the Capitol," she said.
She was also dismayed that even in giving financial assistance, politics still prevailed.
Capitol's social welfare office will be giving financial assistance to the victims but the town's social welfare officer said she still has to check if one of the victims is willing to receive the assistance considering that the family is a Yapha supporter.
The Yaphas are known allies of the political foes of the Garcias. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(April 26, 2006 issue)
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