A FIRE burned down a house situated at Block 18, Lot 10, National Housing Authority (NHA) subdivision Wednesday morning, said Balulang chairman Alfredo Carcosa.
A certain Engineer Jonathan Ogat, owned the gutted house.
Carcosa said the village’s own fire truck immediately responded minutes after they received the report from neighbors at 11:30 a.m.
He said residents also helped in controlling the fire even before the fire fighters arrived.
They used pail to fetch water from hoses that Ogat’s neighbors set up from their homes and threw it to the flaming fire, Carcosa added.
Fire investigators are still probing the possible cause at press time. But they are considering a lighted candle could have caused the fire to break, based on witnesses’ accounts.
Residents confirmed there was a brownout early morning on Wednesday until noontime.
Luckily, the house was built with firewalls surrounding it which prevented the flames from spreading to other houses, Carcosa said.
The city fire department initially placed the damaged properties at P80,000 for the structure excluding the valuable items.
Also, on Tuesday night, a fire broke out in Baloy, Barangay Tablon, also hitting a house made of light and flammable materials.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reiterated its call for the public’s vigilance against fires.
Fire Superintendent Shirley Teleron, city fire marshal, said the public must be cautious with their plugged-in appliances and lighted candles, and they must attend to their cooking.
“They should also be warned of buying substandard electric-based decorations with thinner electrical wirings compared to standard ones,” she said.