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Saturday, March 03, 2007
80 families lose homes in blaze
By Mia E. Abellana
With Rene Martel & Aledel Gonzalez
CEBU CITY -- A day after sirens blared to signify the start of Fire Prevention Month, 40 structures were razed while four persons were injured in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City, Friday dawn.
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The narrow roads leading to Sitio Potat made it hard for firefighters to immediately get to the area while the winds fanned the flames, which spread to the neighboring homes.
Around 80 families were displaced and are temporarily housed at the barangay hall, multi-purpose building and day care center.
Tinago Barangay Captain Joel Garganera appealed to those who can provide materials that may be used as tents for the families.
Since the barangay has no sports complex, they are planning to just let the victims settle in the basketball court and in the affected lots.
Investigators are looking into an overheated ceiling fan as the cause of the blaze.
Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla placed the property damage at P800,000.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama said the Tinago fire showed the need to provide better access to interior portions of barangays.
He said fire trucks had a hard time getting to the area because of narrow roads. “It the usual problem of narrow access roads,” he said.
Aside from the usual assistance the City Government gives to fire victims, Rama said he will see if they can give more to City Hall employees who were among those who lost homes or properties in the blaze.
Rama was born and raised in Tinago. He immediately rushed to Sitio Potat after learning of the fire and stayed for about two hours to check on his relatives in the area.
City Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. said they might start “passing the hat” in City Hall offices to help the employees affected by the fire.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo also said he will talk with Mayor Tomas Osmeña about giving additional assistance to the City Hall employees and SFO3 Allan Arciaga, Cebu City fire department chief investigator, whose house was also burned down.
Carillo, chairman of the council committee on social services, said over 40 houses were affected by the fire.
He could not give yet the exact number of victims as of Friday afternoon because the City Department of Social Welfare and Services was still checking.
City Hall immediately provided food packs to the displaced residents and will distribute housing materials and cooking utensils after three days.
A fire also hit a furniture factory in Mandaue City Friday morning.
Firefighters rushed to Wireworks International in Barangay Labogon around 11:05 a.m. and put out the blaze that started in the spray booth.
Welding was reportedly done at the booth, where other flammable materials such as paint and thinner are placed.
It is also where finished products are stored.
Some P50,000 worth of materials and finished products were damaged.
SFO4 Jose Laurito said it was fortunate that the concrete fence was high enough to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby houses.
The fence was higher than a two-story building so the fire was contained in the compound.
Laurito said the welder might have been unaware of the fire hazard when he was working.
No was injured in the fire that took about two minutes to control.
In Tinago, the origin of the fire was traced to the house of Pastor Dominador and Rose Mag-osara, who took care of the chapel of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines.
Their house is beside the chapel.
Dominador, 71, does not believe the ceiling fan was the cause, saying they did not even use it that night.
He admitted though that it was still plugged to the outlet.
Dominador lost his prosthetic leg in the rush to get out of the house.
Investigator Frank Donoso said that if it was not the ceiling fan, another appliance may have been the cause.
Dominador, on top of being a pastor at the church, also fixes cellular phones and other items for a living.
The official cause of the fire is under investigation.
Investigators will be getting more statements from the couple.
Electrical misuse was the most common cause of fires in 2006, making up 175 of the total 502 incidents in Central Visayas.
Fire Marshal Codilla said they will coordinating with the Department of Trade and Industry regarding the sale of cheap ceiling fans to see if they are safe to use.
These ceiling fans are sold at P50 downtown and by ambulant vendors.
He said that when they inspect establishments, they will require them to present an International Commodity Clearance for the ceiling fans.
He explained that this was the same requirement in buying series lights during Christmas.
Codilla also warned against using too many extension cords because these cause appliances to overheat and eventually overload the system.
Codilla also found it ironic that the fire hit the home of chief fire investigator Arciaga during Fire Prevention Month.
The Bureau of Fire Protection held a motorcade the day before with the sirens of the fire trucks blaring to indicate that Fire Prevention Month had started.
“Kami man gyud ang gisampulan (We were made an example),” he told reporters.
FO3 Ramon Molina, 42, of the Parian Fire Station cut his left ring finger while pulling a fire house.
Flaviana Valliente, 87, suffered a skin avulsion on the right forearm while Marvin and Michael Pasana suffered wounds on their feet.
The fire, which was placed under the general alarm, was tapped at 12:18 a.m. and declared controlled at 1:28 a.m. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (March 3, 2007 issue)
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