Over 2,000 homeless: Toddler dead in Ermita fire

CEBU, Philippines - An 11-month-old girl was killed when a fire hit Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, last Saturday evening. As of last night the count of houses destroyed was 237 with an estimated damage of P1 million.

Fishermen found the charred body of Mary Claire Flores covered by ashes and fallen beams at the ground floor of her house.

The girl was alone as her father Torivio Flores Jr., was out to run some errands at a nearby store when their house caught fire at around 10:20 p.m. The siblings of the victim were also not around at the time.

Mary Claire was reportedly sleeping at the second floor of the house when the fire broke out. She tried to escape but failed due to the heat.

“Didto na iyang lawas sa ubos duol sa bungbong sa balay posible natagak pagkahunlak sa flooring sa second floor o ba kaha nilayat gikan sa taas,” said FO3 Lowel Opolentisima, fire investigator.

Opolentisima told The FREEMAN that Torivio hurried home to rescue his daughter but the fire had already engulfed his house and nearby houses as well. Most of the houses there were made of light materials.

Opolentisima added they plan to invite Torivio for questioning to ascertain the real cause of fire, which according to his neighbors, started in his house.

“Sa pagkakaron wala pa namo siya makit-i kay nawala man to gabii ug kalit mura’g naratol, amo pang balikon,” Opolentisima said.

The fire was raised to Task Force Alpha status and the different fire volunteers, barangay brigades, and the crew of the fire stations of Minglanilla and Talisay City rushed to help. Firemen placed the fire under control at 11:27 p.m. totally extinguished it by 2:09 a.m.

Opolentisima said the accessibility of the area was a problem. The big fire trucks were left at a corner due to the narrow roads and they needed to connect fire hoses together to reach the scene.

He further said that some of firemen needed to cross the river and even jump from the roof of one house to another to fight the fire.

“Ang uban didto na agi sa atop unya ang uban didto sa sapa kay lisod ang dalan,” Opolentisima said.

According to Cebu City Department of Social Welfare Services chief Ester Concha over found hundred families were left homeless.

“As of 4p.m. (yesterday), there were a total of 2,076 individuals affected by this huge fire reaching 462 families,” Concha said. But she added the numbers may yet change pending verification.

Data from DSWS also showed that 237 houses were destroyed with 12 damaged.

The affected residents are temporarily taking shelter at the barangay sports complex.

Concha said apart from the baby who died during the fire, no other casualties were recorded.

“Naa man say taga city disaster risk dinhi. Ready ra man sad sila mutabang,” Concha added.

The city government will be taking care of the food of the fire victims.

Last Friday morning a fire destroyed houses in Barangay Kamputhaw and displaced about 50 families and last Saturday an establishment in Barangay San Nicolas was also destroyed by a fire.

Nobody was reported injured in those two fires.  â€”/BRP (FREEMAN)