Fire guts apartment; 65 homeless

CEBU, Philippines – Occupants of an apartment building on Tres de Abril corner Tomas Abella Streets, Barangay San Nicolas Proper, Cebu City woke up to an early morning fire yesterday that left at least 65 of them homeless. 

The fire alarm was reported to the Bureau of Fire Protection at around 6:40 a.m. and was immediately responded to by firefighters.

Senior Fire Officer 2 Melanjel Yburan of the San Nicolas Fire Substation said when they arrived in the area, the fire was already engulfing the third floor of the building. At this point, they immediately raised the fire to a second alarm.

"Pag-abot namo, dako na man to ang kayo kay dugay man pud sila naka-report gud (When we came, the fire had already spread because locals did not immediately report the incident to us)," Yburan said.

Yburan said the fire was controlled at around 7 a.m. and declared completely put out 26 minutes after.

In their assessment, investigators found out the fire gutted the entire third floor of the building consisting of eight rooms. Yburan said one of these rooms housed a kitchen used by every boarder in the apartment.

An electrical short circuit, he added, was the source of the fire whose damage was pegged at around P100,000.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City government's Department of Social Welfare and Services provided the victims meals yesterday and gave out a starter kit to each family, which contained household utensils, bedding materials, among others.

The affected families are temporarily housed at San Nicolas Elementary School.

DSWS head Dr. Ester Concha said though the fire broke out on the third floor of the building, the lower floors were also affected because of the water from the firefighters that drained down to the lower levels.

Aside from the third floor, the building's second floor is being rented out as boarding house while the first floor is used for business operations.