Eight houses razed in Talamban fire

CEBU, Philippines - A fire destroyed eight houses made of light materials shortly before midnight last Tuesday in 803-E Arselias St., Nasipit, Talamban Cebu City.

At least P1.6 million worth of property went up in smoke after the fire, which investigators say started at a two-storey boarding house owned by Mrs. Letecia Pagadan.

SFO3 Allih Kasem Espinola, said in a telephone interview that Dimple Suazo, a 19-year-old student of the University of San Carlos-Talamban, disclosed that an electric fan inside her room overheated, causing the fire that spread first to the walls of her room.

The fire, which was reported at 3:00 a.m., was controlled in 42 minutes.

Cebu City was hit with several huge fires in various areas since the month of August started, prompting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to look for another city director of the Bureau of Fire.

The first August fire in Cebu City was in Barangay T. Padilla last August 9, considered the worst fire to have struck the city this year. It affected 250 houses and displaced thousands of individuals, prompting the Cebu Provincial Government to hand out P5-million as financial assistance to the Cebu City Government.

The August 9-fire wiped out all of Sitios Sto. Niño, La Purisima and Bahaw. Other affected sitios were BSJCO, Eagles and Freedom.

Only five days after the T. Padilla fire, another blaze destroyed six houses in Maracas, Lahug and another hit an ancestral house and bodega in Labangon. Weeks before that or in July 26, 30 houses were also burned in Purok 8, in Barangay Camputhaw.

The series of fires, according to Rama, reinforces the need for the local government to make preparations ahead such as purchasing housing materials.

These have also alarmed Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal J. Vidal, who said these could be a sign of negligence. (FREEMAN)