Fire hits upland school as classes continue

CEBU, Philippines — Classes stay uninterrupted at the Napu Elementary School in Barangay Sapangdaku, Cebu City despite the fire that gutted several classrooms early yesterday.

While the incident report is yet to be submitted to the Department of Education Central Office for possible budget allocation for a temporary learning center, DepEd-Cebu City Division Schools Superintendent Nimfa Bongo told reporters yesterday that the students would be made do “blended learning” at the moment.

Blended learning means that aside from giving the students modules that they can answer at home, school officials and teachers would plot schedules for students to take turns in coming to school.

“Blended learning sa ang mga bata for the meantime nga wala pa ang mga temporary classrooms,” Bongo said.

The fire, which the fire department managed to control 18 minutes after receiving the alarm, damaged nine classrooms. Bongo said there are six classrooms that can still be used.

The Cebu City Local School Board has also cleared an area and set up tents to serve as temporary classrooms.

Bongo said that if needed, the school also has a gym that can be utilized as a temporary classroom.

After receiving the alarm at 2:56 a.m. yesterday, the Cebu City Fire Department (CCFD) raised it to first alarm at 3 a.m., which meant that all firefighting units in Cebu city responded. At 3:14 a.m., firefighters managed to put the fire under control and extinguished it at 3:23 a.m.

Senior Fire Officer (SFO2) Wendell Villanueva, CCFD information officer, said they estimated the damage the fire caused at around P2.4 million. Fortunately, he said, the incident happened at night so no one was reported injured.

He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. As of press time, investigators were still collecting samples to be sent to the Bureau of Fire Protection Central Office in Manila for laboratory examination.

“Ang maong eskwelahan karaan na, ang structure made of light materials…dali kaayo nakakatap…unya possible nga dugay dayon nakatawag og bombero. Og duna tay delay sa pag-inform sa kabomberohan pila lang ka minuto mokatap na ang kayo,” Villanueva said.

“Unya layo pud ang lugar, pinakaduol nato diha nga sub-station ang Guadalupe, unya sa pag-abot…daku-dako na (ang kayo), maong gi-raise to first alarm,” he added.

Villanueva reminded the public to regularly check their electrical connections for their own safety, be it at home, in offices, or in schools.

He also said that people should refrain from buying substandard appliances, because the savings they may get in buying them cheap may actually be a whole lot less compared to what they would lose when the appliances cause fire. — (FREEMAN)