THE recent blaze in Barangay 28-C, Davao City left P1.8 million worth of damage, according to the latest estimates of the Bureau of Fire Protection-Davao (BFP-Davao) Central Fire Station on Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
According to the fire bureau, the two-hour blaze on Monday morning, October 28 at Purok 7, Chavez corner Ponce streets was caused by an overheated electric fan that originally started at 8:50 a.m. in the house of a 68-year-old resident, Boy Jesus Fuentespina who was mistakenly reported to be a victim of such an incident.
Meanwhile, the fire was declared fire out at around 10:15 a.m. following the emergency response of Central 911, BFP-Davao, and several members of the Davao fire volunteer.
In the previous reports, Fuentespina was allegedly trapped inside his own house during the fire. However, in an interview with dxDC-RMN Davao to Barangay Kagawad Jessirit Marces, he clarified that Fuentespina, a retired seafarer, was able to save his own life as he was in the church when the fire broke out.
Marces added that the fire was not able to spread quickly due to the thick firewall inside Fuentespina’s house.
Following the incident, Davao Central Fire arson investigator SFO1 Rich Gamot urged Davao residents in an interview with Davao media to unplug electrical devices from their power sources to reduce the risk of an electrical fire.
“Pag mohawa mo sa inyong balay, dapat siguraduhon ninyo nga nakatanggal ang inyong saksakanan gyud kay pag-check man gud namo, ang iyang appliances, nakasaksak pa tapos ang electric fan niya nalusaw gyud sa kainit (When you leave your house, you should make sure that your appliances are unplugged because upon checking, his appliances were still plugged in and his electric fan really melted due to heat),” he said.
In October, at least 10 reported fires in the city have been recorded.
On the other hand, from January to October this year, the city recorded more than 720 fire incidents or a 28.25 percent increase compared to the 557 incidents during the same period last year.