CEBU, Philippines - Five houses were destroyed while another one was damaged by fire in Sitio Sampaguita, Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City yesterday afternoon.
Senior Fire Officer 2 Cipriano Codilla of the Mandaue City Fire Station said the fire started from the house of one Francisca Pegarido around 4:52 p.m. and that they received the alarm three minutes later.
Codilla said the affected house owners included Lourdes Cuizon and Victoriano Bontia, whose homes were made of light and mixed materials.
He said they had yet to identify the owners of two other houses.
The fire department pegged the destruction at P350,000. Initial investigation identified “electrical short circuit as possible cause of the blaze after it received a report that someone was doing some welding works at the back of Pegarido’s house.
Responding firemen controlled the blaze at 5:15 p.m. and declared a fire out at 6 p.m. — (FREEMAN)