Just after midnight last Saturday, residents of Sitio Isla Alegre, Barangay Basak-San Nicolas in Cebu City awakened to panicked screams as a fire spread through their neighborhood.
When daylight came it revealed that 125 houses had been reduced to ashes, leaving 810 individuals comprising 270 families homeless. It was lucky that no one was hurt or died in the incident.
And just like that we are once again taught that while there are seasons for natural calamities and disasters like typhoons, floods, and landslides, there is no season for fires. And while March has indeed been designated as fire prevention month because of the heat, fires can actually strike at any time of the year.
No one who has experienced losing a home to a fire is ever the same again. There is the trauma of fear and panic as one scrambles for safety while gathering all belongings that can be saved, all the while making sure everyone in the house is evacuated safely. Then there is the heartbreak of watching your home go up in flames in front of your eyes, helpless to do anything.
And the even sadder thing is that fires are actually preventable. Unlike natural disasters that have origins beyond our control, most if not all of fires that happen in crowded urban areas are the result of human error, miscalculation, or even plain negligence.
Our hearts go out to the victims of the fire. There are few things worse than losing everything you have worked so hard for. There is also no worse time to lose everything than just before the holidays.
However, let us not let this incident be in vain. We always like to say that any occasion, even the bad ones, can serve to teach us something, and this time it is to always be prepared for fires.