No pregnant victim in blaze: Fire marshal tags electrical misuse

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla said he believes that the cause of the fire in barangay Capitol Site last Thursday dawn was due to electrical misuse.

This as the family of the victims corrected reports that one of the fatalities, Charmaine Caberte, was pregnant.

There is no truth to such report, said Dr. Carmencita Fernan, who spoke on behalf of the bereaved family. She said that it was pure speculation and the members of the family of the victims did not speak to any person from the media as they were still in shock and waiting anxiously as firemen searched for the remains at the fire scene.

The Freeman has acknowledged the matter and regrets adding that bit of information into the story yesterday although it stated that the fact was only a report and unverified.

Codilla, in an interview with The Freeman yesterday, said they saw signs of “octopus connection” inside one of the rooms of the 15-unit apartment, where the fire reportedly started.

In the incident, Rolando Caberte, 63; his daughter Maria Charmaine, 35; her son Miguel Paulo, 15; and the family’s helper, Alma de la Torre, 25, a native of Canlaon, Negros Occidental, were killed inside room C that they were occupying.

Fire Officer 3 Antonio Gonzales reported to Codilla that at the fire scene, on the ground itself where room C was situated, they saw indications of things plugged into one connection or what they call as an “octopus connection.”

“We are most likely to incline na the incident was due to electrical misuse, klaro na man na, but we are still exhausting tanang possibilities as to the other causes of the fire,” Codilla said.

He said they gathered ashes and other debris from the fire scene and has submitted them to the PNP Crime Laboratory-7 for examination to eventually verify what caused the blaze.

Codilla said that the owner of the apartment most likely has lapses on the security measures to be implemented at the apartment complex, considering also that it was already over 40 years old.

He said they invited the owner, Nicolas Tan, to their office yesterday for questioning regarding the permit for running the apartment.

Codilla disclosed that the apartment, which was constructed in 1963 as alleged by Tan, had no business permit.

“Ang ila permit na gi-ask from the Bureau of Fire Department gi-karga sa auto supply na business nila sa Leon Kilat Street, wa sa apartment. That time na mi-apply sila, ila gi-leaser ang apartment na property but wa nila nganli na ang apartment diay ‘to. We only learned na it was the apartment when this incident happened na,” Codilla explained.

He said that if the owner had just told them that they were operating an apartment and if they just complied with the permit, the fire department would have furnished them a fire safety inspection certificate.

That way, Codilla added, the fire department would have sent a team to conduct annual inspection on the apartment to tell the owners of the safe way of running such.

The fire marshal said that they can conduct visitation on stores and other business establishments whether they have permission from the owners or not because it is in accordance with the provision of the Fire Code, but they cannot just barge into private dwellings, just like the recently burnt apartment owned by Tan.

He said they tried to call yesterday the bookkeeper of the Tan’s auto supply business, who allegedly applied for the permit.

Hours after the fire, Codilla reportedly visited the fire scene and noticed that the fire exit of the apartment was not up to standards.

Tan, according to Codilla, also told him that what they considered as a fire exit was the area, where a creek lies, at the back of the apartment where one has to jump the five-foot tall concrete wall before reaching it.

As reported, Tan said he doesn’t personally conduct inspection at the apartment, but he has an assistant who goes to the place to check the area and answer the complaints of the tenants on their electrical connections, water leakage and other concerns regarding the apartment.

Chief Insp. Virginia Toledo, Codilla’s deputy, also doubts that the owner has considered re-wiring the electrical connection inside the apartment.

“Karaan na gud ang apartment, possible na naa’y mga ilaga na nangutkot sa mga wires. Mao ra ba na kasagaran maka-cause sa sunog,” Toledo said.

Toledo said that while residents secure their homes from thieves by putting up grills on their windows, they should also provide fire exits in these areas so that in case they could not get through the door, they could get out through the fire exit at the window.

The fire, of which damage was pegged at P3.25 million, killed the four victims who were believed to have been suffocated causing them to lose consciousness, which is why they were not able to go out of their apartment. — /NLQ (FREEMAN NEWS)