FIVE homes were razed while a sixth home was damaged when a fire hit the southern town of Samboan Saturday night.
A fire investigator placed the damage at P5 million as the fire affected concrete homes in Barangay San Sebastian at 7 p.m.
The town has no personnel from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) assigned to them, but they have a fire truck that townsfolk and police officers, who were trained in firefighting, operate.
The townsfolk of Samboan also got help from fire trucks of neighboring towns of Santander, Ginatilan, Malabuyoc and Boljoon, which has a BFP station. They were all contacted by radio.
Details of the fire were sketchy, as the designated investigator, SFO2 Jaime Suycano of the Oslob Fire Station, did not answer calls to his cell phone.
Samboan Mayor Raymond Calderon denied rumors the town does not have its own fire truck.
“We do have one. In fact, it responded during last night’s (Saturday night’s) fire in Barangay San Sebastian,” read Calderon’s text message to Sun.Star Cebu.
According to the police report, the fire originated from the house of Caesar Busmion. From there, it spread to the homes owned by Sergio Ferrolino, Anastacio Estaño, Michael Harapan and Basilides Reponte.
The fire also damaged the house of Marilyn Pentac.
Police, quoting Suycano, said electrical connections may have caused the fire.
The fire was extinguished at 10:30 p.m.
Ginatilan
Two days before the Samboan incident, a laborer accused his neighbor of intentionally setting his house on fire because he failed to pay a debt.