Tuesday, July 11, 2006
64 families lose homes in P5.8M Pasil fire
CEBU CITY -- A dawn fire razed at least 84 houses in Sitio Mahayahay II, Barangay Pasil, Cebu City Monday.
Because most of the affected houses were made of light materials, Chief Investigator Allan Arciaga of the Cebu City Bureau Of Fire Protection (BFP) initially pegged the value of the damaged property at P100,000.
However, the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council put the damage estimate at P5.8 million. No one was hurt in the fire.
Arciaga said the status of the fire was raised to a general alarm, prompting them to dispatch all available fire trucks-whether it is registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) or not.
"We will be held responsible if we do not put out the fire immediately," Arciaga told Sun.Star Cebu. There are 13 fire trucks at the City Fire Department but only six are registered with the LTO.
The fire department received the call for assistance at 5:24 a.m. and firefighters immediately raised it to third alarm.
Arciaga pointed out that the area is thickly populated and the roads leading to the fire scene are narrow.
Since road accessibility is a major stumbling block in firefighting, a general alarm was declared minutes after, allowing the city fire department to seek assistance from neighboring fire stations.
Apart from fire trucks from the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay, the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade and Emergency Unit Foundation also helped the city fire department.
It took the firefighters until 7:20 a.m. to extinguish the fire.
Arciaga said SFO1 Ali Kasem Espinola, the assigned investigator, is still determining the cause of the blaze.
Some of the residents said there was an explosion before the incident while the others said the fire was triggered by an unattended candle.
Arciaga said they are looking into all these claims as well as the possibility that an electrical short circuit caused the fire.
Initial information gathered by Espinola indicated that the fire started at the third floor of a three-story semi-concrete house owned by Gaudencio S. Quirante, a fish vendor.
Quirante, whom Espinola was able to talk to after the fire, said the third story of his house was occupied by his nephew, Rex de la Cerna.
De la Cerna could not be found Monday.
Investigators plan to summon him to shed light on the incident.
Most of the victims are temporarily housed at the Don Bosco Training Center while some sought shelter from neighbors whose houses are not affected by the blaze.
The City Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) monitored and distributed packed breakfast, lunch and supper to all 84 families listed as of 4 p.m. Monday.
DSWS personnel led by Cathy Yso will go on giving packed food to the victims until this afternoon.
Before pulling out from the fire scene this afternoon, DSWS will give out mats, mosquito nets, blankets, and canned goods and rice that will last the victims for three days.
Hopefully, by the third day, they will be able to get back to their properties and start rebuilding their houses, said Tinny Villahermosa of DSWS.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo said of the 412 persons listed, 47 own houses that were destroyed, seven own those that were partially burned, 16 were sharers and 14 were tenants. (JST/GAC of Sun.Star Cebu)
(July 11, 2006 issue)
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