50 homes lost in Tisa blaze

CEBU, Philippines -  Around 50 houses were destroyed during a fire that hit sitio Magtinabangay, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City yesterday afternoon.

City Fire Marshall William Tacaldo, Jr. raised the incident to Task Force Alpha as fire stations from neighboring cities were called to assist Cebu City firefighters control the blaze.

The fire totally burned down at least 30 houses.

Tacaldo said it took them over an hour to control the fire as the road leading to the area was elevated and the affected structures were situated in an interior portion.

Firefighters had to cut down some electrical wires for the fire trucks to get through.

Tacaldo said they are still investigating the cause of the fire, which was reported at 1:24 p.m. and was controlled at 2:56 p.m.

But according to the affected residents, the fire was caused by a loud explosion reportedly from the house of a certain Oscar Alingasa.

Alingasa, a person with disability, alleged that he noticed a spark at the ceiling of his house yesterday morning.

He checked and found out that the spark came form the electrical wire gnawed by rats. He covered it with an electrical tape.

In the afternoon, his house reportedly caught fire which then spread to the nearby houses.

Tisa barangay councilman Eddie Cabulao said the fire affected about 50 to 80 families and that they would place sitio Magtinabangay under state of calamity.

Cabulao said he hopes that calamity fund would be released to the affected families.

Mayor Michael Rama, who responded to the scene, said the city government will extend assistance to the barangay.

Rama said he would discuss with other City Hall officials the problem on narrow roads in the area.

Maria Lyn Zabante, 53, was selling apples along Colon Street when her neighbors called her up to inform her that her house was among those affected by the fire.

She rushed home only to find her house already reduced to ashes.

Zabante’s daughter, Arjane, said she was doing some research at an Internet café when she learned that the fire ate up their house.

They were not able to save anything.

Simeon Gula, 75, tearfully said that he wasn’t able to save anything from his house, except for few clothes and cooking pots.

Tacaldo said they are yet to consolidate the reports from the fire investigators to come up with the amount of lost properties. — /LPM (FREEMAN)