2 fires hit city, raze 22 houses

CEBU, Philippines - At least 22 houses were burned in separate fire incidents that hit Cebu City yesterday leaving several families homeless.

The first fire alarm was reported in Sitio San Jose, Barangay Sambag I past 6 a.m. and was placed under control at 7 a.m. It allegedly started at the room rented by Emily Biñan in the house owned by Aquilina Ermac. Another house was also gutted by fire before it was completely put out by the responding firemen.

 The Cebu City Fire Department has pegged the damage at P100,000. No injury was reported.

Nine hours later, another fire broke out in Sitio Ponce, Barangay Carreta burning down at least 20 houses. The fire department received the alarm past 3 p.m. and was raised to second alarm before it was declared under control at 4:10 p.m.

Fire investigators said the fire started at the house of Rowena Niez. Initial investigation revealed that nobody was inside the house when the fire started. The fire department pegged the damage at P50,000.

The Cebu City government through the Department of Social Welfare and Services immediately distributed relief assistance to the affected residents.

DSWS head Lea Japson said that the immediate assistance distributed to the fire victims includes canned goods, noodles and rice. Japson said the victims will also get housing materials from the city.

The DSWS is still conducting inventory to determine the exact number of families affected in the two fire incidents.

Sambag I Barangay Captain Lemar Alcover, however, said there were at least 20 individuals affected in his barangay. All of them are temporarily sheltered by their respective relatives. (FREEMAN)