A total of 35 houses, mostly made of light materials, were totally burned after a fire broke out yesterday afternoon in Zone Kamunggay in barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City.
The Mandaue City Fire Department received the fire alarm at 2:30 p.m. and the call was immediately placed under third alarm. It took firemen 23 minutes to put the fire under control.
Fire investigator SFO4 Joselito Laurito said that they are yet to tally the number of houses that were partially burned.
Firemen had a hard time doing the count yesterday because the scene was in an interior portion of the barangay and there were throngs of people aside from the fire victims at the scene.
Laurito said that the fire started from the house Irinea Carwana, who at the time of the incident was not in her house as she was in the adjacent house owned by her son. Carwana could only helplessly watch as the blaze ate up her house.
Some neighbors of Carwana however insisted that the fire started in the house being rented by Julito Cabal.
Steve Delfin, another neighbor said, that he saw the fire start at the house of Carwana and that he heard an explosion in the house of Cabal.
Laurito said that they still have to determine the cause of fire, but he initially pegged the damage at P720 thousand as most houses were made of light materials.
He also said that since the place was in the interior portion of the barangay, only the two mini fire trucks of the Accident Control Emergency Rescue Team (ACERT) were able to get near the place while the fire trucks of the city together with those from Cebu City were only at the highway and hoses were just connected in order to reach the area.
Laurito said that most of the residents of the area were renters working in factories nearby, which is the reason why most of the victims were not able to save their belongings.
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, who rushed to the area to assist the fire victims, said that pack meals were being distributed to them last night.
He also asked the City Disaster Coordinating Council to convene to address the needs of the fire victims, who are now temporarily housed at the Paknaan Gym.—(/NLQ)