CEBU, Philippines - An afternoon fire razed at least 23 houses and damaged a few more at Zone Kamansi, Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City, leaving an estimated damage of P800,000.
Fire Officer 3 Roy Garcia, of Mandaue City Fire Station, said that the fire alarm was received at 2:14 in the afternoon.
Fire fighters were dispatched to respond to the fire but it quickly spread to the neighboring houses.
The ground commander raised the alarm to "Task Force Alpha" where all the fire stations in Mandaue City and neighboring cities and municipalities were requested to respond.
The fire was under control at 2:58 and was declared totally fire out at 5:02 p.m.
Codilla said that the fire is believed to have started in the house of a certain Lorenso Bonsit, but is still subject for further investigation.
The fire quickly spread in the area after just a few minutes because of the lack of access for the fire trucks and since most of the houses were made of light materials.
Residents also tried to put out the fire by dousing the flames with buckets of water but to no avail.
Some of the residents were left with nothing while the other fire victims were lucky to have saved their important papers and documents.
Malaquias Soco, Paknaan Barangay Captain, said that the fire victims and affected families will be temporarily housed in the covered court while the Department of Social Welfare and Services has been asked to provide food for the fire victims.
Soco also asked Paknaan barangay officials to convene last night so they could declare the area under a state of calamity. With this, the barangay can utilize their calamity fund to extend financial assistance to the affected families.
Further, due to the lack of accessible roads in the area, Codilla suggested to the local officials to consider a road reblocking.
Soco is set to meet and discuss with the fire victims the plan for the road reblocking as it will affect them considering that the area is relatively small. (FREEMAN)