FOUR persons were killed and eight others were wounded in a fire that struck Sitio Sta. Lucia, Barangay Tinago, Cebu City at 1:43 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024.
The fire destroyed 13 houses and damaged three, leaving 30 families or 90 individuals homeless.
Damage estimates were placed at P7,050,000.
The fatalities were identified as 60-year-old Parulito Otadoy and his 54-year-old wife Rosita, and their children Joseph, 14, and Jeffrey, 12. Those who sustained burns and cuts were Rose Ann Otadoy, 33; Jemar Otadoy, 36; Emarie Otadoy, 36; Keira Marie Otadoy; Neil John Otadoy; Christopher Otadoy and Dylan Otadoy. Also hurt was 21-year-old Sean Roby Ruelan.
The wounded individuals were brought to the Cebu City Medical Center for treatment.
At least 57 fire trucks in Metro Cebu responded to the fire, which was declared under first alarm at 1:46 a.m., under control at 4:48 a.m. and fire out at 5:09 a.m.
The Otadoy couple’s eldest child, Mary Jane Mendiola, said that no words could describe how devastated she was at the loss of her parents and two siblings.
Mendiola said her in-laws woke her up to tell her that their home was on fire, prompting her to quickly go to their residence.
No time to lose
However, she could not get near their house due to the fire’s intensity and the heat.
Monaliza, Mary Jane’s younger sister, said she was inside when the fire broke out. She said she immediately gathered her three children – the youngest of whom was an infant — and went downstairs.
“Paspas kaayo ang kayo gud, nagbitbit pa ko sa akong one year old. Pagkakita nako nga nagpadung na ang kayo nidiretso nakog naog igo na lang ko ni syagit nga naay sunog. Naa man sila sa third floor sa balay,” Monaliza said.
(The fire spread swiftly while I was holding my one-year-old child. When I saw the fire approaching, I went down and yelled that there was a fire. They were on the third floor.)
The Otadoy couple’s two married children resided with them along with their younger siblings, including Jeffrey, who was scheduled to attend the Tejero Elementary School that day.
According to FO3 Fulbert Navarro, Cebu City fire investigator, the fire started on the second floor of the Otadoy’s house, which was made of light-materials, before it spread to nearby homes.
Firefighters thought the victims may have attempted to exit the house, but the heavy smoke had suffocated them and caused them to pass out.
“Probably ang nahitabo ani niya kusog naman ang kalayo gyud gikan man kuno sa second floor nagsugod wala nani sila nakadagan, pagka hugno nangahulog na sila,” Navarro said.
(Probably what happened was they were trapped on the third floor because the fire started on the second floor. They then fell when the house collapsed.)
Probable cause
SFO3 Wendell Villanueva, information officer of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Cebu City, said one of the problems they encountered while fighting the blaze was that the fire trucks could not penetrate the area due to the narrow alley.
According to him, they had to connect fire hoses to get to the fire scene.
Villanueva said the blaze may have been caused by electrical misuse.
SunStar Cebu tried to reach Villanueva for the updated figures on fire incidents in the city so far this year, but he did not respond as of press time.
Based on a SunStar Cebu report last year, the city recorded more than P4 billion worth of damage due to fires, a 718 percent increase from the year prior, with P516 million worth of properties going up in smoke.
Last Dec. 12, Villanueva reported that they responded to 305 fire incidents, placing total damage estimates at P4,091,223,150.
He said a significant part of the property loss occurred during an April fire that struck the unfinished 35-story Grand Residences, a condominium project located in Barangay Kasambagan. Damage estimates were placed at around P4 billion.
In 2022, Villanueva said they recorded 231 incidents.
The fire official urged a reassessment of home security measures, saying the common practice of installing iron grills on windows, driven by a desire for safety, had come under scrutiny after the tragic incident in Barangay Tisa last November, where four children died after being trapped inside their blazing house. / AYB, TPT / KJF