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Thursday, January 17, 2008
110 families lose homes in blaze
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- At least 110 families were left homeless in a fire that hit two sitios in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City Wednesday afternoon.
Some of the residents were taking their siestas when the fire broke out at 2:50 p.m.
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An initial listing by the Cebu City Government's Department of Social Welfare and Services indicated that about 53 houses were razed by the fire in Sitios Kanaas and Riverside.
The Cebu City Fire Department, on the other hand, has so far recorded more than 40 houses.
As of this writing Wednesday, Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla said he could not yet determine how much property the fire destroyed because FO3 Antonio Gonzales was still at the fire scene conducting an investigation.
One of the families living in the area, the Rocolases, had to carry the coffin bearing the remains of their 70-year-old father, Garcisio, to save it from the blaze.
Garcisio Rocolas died last Tuesday.
Imelda Rocolas told Sun.Star Cebu that when they saw the fire nearing their house, they prioritized saving their father's coffin.
Imelda, who was weeping during the interview, was relieved when a neighbor later told her that their house was spared.
Codilla said it was most likely that an electrical short- circuit sparked the blaze.
Hazards
Minutes after the first alarm was raised, Codilla said he elevated the status to a general alarm considering the "degree of hazards" in the area.
He said most of the houses in the two sitios are made of light materials, the area is located in the interior portion and the access roads were very narrow.
The alleys were only about one meter wide.
Most of the fire trucks stayed along the main road on Duterte St. in Sitio Banawa and the firefighters had to connect their hoses to reach interior parts of Kanaas and Riverside.
Some of the fire trucks managed to get closer through J. Fortich St. near the Alliance of Two Hearts Church.
Gonzales, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu at the fire scene, said the blaze probably started at the two-story house of Lito and Marlyn Romeo in Sitio Kanaas near the boundary of Sitio Riverside.
Because most of the houses were made of light materials, the fire quickly spread. The fire also razed adjacent houses in Sitio Riverside, separated from the other sitio by only a creek.
Saved
The fire was declared under control after 48 minutes. But it took the firefighters until last night to extinguish all the embers.
Panicking residents in the two sitios tried to save their things by carrying them to an open space-some to a basketball court and the others to a nearby uphill area. People, some running barefoot, were seen at the fire scene hauling television sets, electric fans, and LPG stoves.
One of the residents, Luz Acre, looked helplessly as the fire hit her house. She said she managed to save only her electric fan, TV set and LPG tank.
"Wa ko'y sanina! Kini rang duster akong gisuot! (I no longer have clothes, only this housedress that I'm wearing)," she said, bursting into tears.
Policemen and bara-ngay tanods arrived in the area to keep looters at bay.
The designated temporary relocation site of the displaced families is the basketball court of Sitio Riverside. (With Lyra Fe Q. Serafin, La Salle University Ozamiz intern/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (January 17, 2008 issue)
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