Fire razes 50 houses

(Photo by Juliet Revita)
(Photo by Juliet Revita)

A FRUIT stand, located near the market owned by Elizabeth Javier, 60, was among the structures that were razed when a fire hit at Purok 1, Barangay 37-D, Mabini, Davao City Monday, March 25.

Javier said in an interview that while she has found useful stuff that was not razed, she was saddened by the incident. She has been selling fruits for a decade now. It was her means of income to support her needs and her family since her husband already died.

Her fruit stand was among the 50 structures that were razed by the fire.

In an interview, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Davao City Fire District Chief of Operation Esequil Tabon said the incident was tapped at 1:07 p.m. Monday in a residential area of Purok 1.

The fire reached third alarm status. It was put under control at 2:03 p.m. As of 5 p.m., overhauling operations were still being conducted.

No casualty was reported. Damage was initially estimated at P700,000. Authorities, however, said the amount could go up.

Based on the monitoring of the barangay, as of 3 p.m., they recorded a total of 50 affected houses.

The Davao City Social Service and Development Office has also started to gather the list of displaced victims to determine the number of affected residents.

Javier, for her part, said she was just renting the space that she was occupying.

During the incident, she shared that she was taking a nap inside her stall. It was past noon when the fire broke out a few houses away from her fruit stand.

After hearing people screaming about a fire, she immediately grabbed her flat screen television and important documents for safety, leaving the fruits behind.

She had bought the fruits, amounting to P3,000, early in the morning.

Despite losing her fruits to the fire, Javier said she was still happy that she was not injured. But she said with optimism that she will reconstruct her stall and go back to selling.

The probable cause of the fire is still under investigation. Witnesses said the fire broke out at the second floor of the house of a certain Alma Cañete.

Tabon said the strong wind fanned the fire and it spread quickly. This, and the narrow streets in the area, posed a challenge to firefighters.

Some of the men in the area also tried to help douse the fire by fetching pails of water.

Considering that March is Fire Prevention Month, Tabon encouraged the public to be conscious of fire safety and be alert in times of disaster like this.

“Hindi nag-eend, ang Fire Prevention month, it’s just a commemoration month pero hindi ibig sabihin na mag e-end na ang pagiging vigilant natin, pagiging fire safety concern natin regarding sa sunog. As much as possible you must be a fire conscious, maging conscious po tayo in terms of sunog,” Tabon said.

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