Firefighters battle last night’s raging fire in Barangay Day-as, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
An evening fire yesterday razed at least 10 houses including a pension house and a three-story building and left at least 30 families homeless in Barangay Day-as, Cebu City.
Day-as Barangay Captain Jerome Puerto said that the affected families would stay at the Day-as Sports Complex.
Cebu City Fire Marshall Rogelio Bongabong said that they are still investigating the cause of the fire.
“There are a lot of allegations here. Some said that the fire started at the (electricity) post, wire. Some said that something exploded,” Bongabong told Cebu Daily News.
Bongabong, however, said that the fire started at the ground floor of the house owned by Anthony Conejos.
Bongabong said Cebu City Fire Department received the fire alarm at 6:04 p.m. and this was raised to Task Force Alpha at 6:25 p.m. where other fire stations’ assistance was sought.
No one was reported injured in the fire.
He also placed the initial estimate of the damage to property at more or less P500,000.
He also said the fire destroyed the three-story VGE building, which is owned by a former government official of Agusan del Sur.
As of 7 p.m. yesterday, the firefighters were still assessing the area for further damage.
One of the fire victims, Joselito Gako, a former overseas Filipino worker, lost his eatery and sari-sari store in yesterday’s fire.
Gako said he was inside his sari-sari store when he heard people shouting outside.
Gako, 47, ran outside to check what the commotion was all about.
He said it was a timely move since the fire was already gutting their house at the back of their sari-sari store and eatery.
He said the fire spread quickly and he failed to save a single thing from his house and eatery.
He was, however, relieved that his wife and three children managed to escape the fire and were safe.
But he was sad that the fruits of his nine-year contracting work in Saudi Arabia went up in smoke.
Gako said that he had no idea where he and his family would stay since his relatives also lost their homes in the fire.
Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella, who was at the fire site last night, said that they were coordinating with the city’s social welfare and services for the assistance of the fire victims.