FIRE destroyed four houses in Mountain View Village, Barangay Quiot-Pardo,Cebu City on Friday dawn, July 5, 2019.
The fire, which occurred at 1:04 a.m., has displaced around 42 residents.
Barangay officials led by Quiot-Pardo village chief Francis Espares said they are contemplating on declaring a possible state of calamity to allow the release of funds to help the affected residents.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Dinah Marikit of Cebu City Fire Station said they received the fire alarm at 1:04 a.m.
Marikit said that due to fear that the fire could spread to nearby houses, firefighters raised the threat level to third alarm, prompting nearby city and municipal fire departments to help them in putting out the blaze.
Eventually, firefighters were able to control the fire at 1:39 a.m.
Marikit said the fire reportedly started in the house of a certain Wilt Violanda.
Based on their initial investigation, an explosion was reportedly heard inside Violanda's house.
The fire damage was pegged at P260,000.
No one died nor was hurt in the incident.
Authorities are still investigating what really caused the fire.
Espares told SunStar Cebu that some of the affected families opted to stay at the fire scene, while others temporarily relocated to the barangay sports complex.
Espares said this was the second time this week that their barangay was hit by a fire.
Last July 4, a fire hit a house in San Carlos Heights. (With reports from JKV)