Fire victims told to file complaint

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Fire Office has encouraged anew the residents affected by fire incidents to formally file a complaint against the owners of the house where the fire started to be able to obtain justice.

This is the call of Senior Fire Officer 2 Emerson Arceo, one of the investigators of CCFO, upon assessing that several fire incidents in the city weren’t usually pursued with charges in the absence of complainants.

“As of now walay (charges filed) kay walay formal complaints, ni-advise nami sa ila na among office is always open for them na para maka-submit og affidavit kay syempre dira man mi mo base in order ma prosper ang kaso, otherwise, wala lang gyuy padulngan ang kaso,” said Arceo.

According to Arceo, the affidavits of the residents would play a vital part in the filing of charges considering that they were the only ones who had a personal knowledge of the fire incident that took place in their respective area.

It was reported earlier that right after the onslaught of Typhoon Odette, there have been multiple fire incidents caused by overheating generator sets and lighted candles.

Arceo said none of these fire incidents had an individual held liable since there is no complaint that was formally charged.

“Tungod lagi nasunog naman gud sad ang mga ebidensya nato sa sunog..we highly encourage them, wa mi nagkulang sa pahimangno,” said Arceo.

“Unfortunately, isa sa ilang mga rason nga dili nasad sila mopadayon, kay hasolan, tungod kay nawagtangan pa sila og balay, mao pa ilang atimanon,” said Arceo.

On Sunday morning, a fire broke out in a commercial area in Sitio Banica, Barangay Talamban, Cebu City wherein an electrical misused was believed to be the cause of fire.

The CCFO received the fire alarm at around 8:52 a.m. It was raised to first alarm approximately six minutes upon arrival. The firefighters placed the incident under control 9:01 a.m. It was declared fire out at 9:13 a.m.

The incident left an estimated damage to properties of at least P180,000 affecting six establishments with 17 individuals. Among the six establishments, five were totally burned while one was partially burned.

“Ongoing pa ang investigation but among gitan-aw ato na possible tungod sa sa ilang kuryente, wa man gud toy tawo atong panahona didto kay nanimba,” said Arceo.

He added, in most areas of Cebu City, the common cause of fire is due to electrical misused considering that the city is highly-urbanized area. — GMR (FREEMAN)