Residents of Barangay Suba could only watch helplessly as firefighters put out the last embers of the fire that burned down their homes.
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Forty-two families or about 542 persons will spend the coming holidays inside a barangay gym after losing their homes to a fire that ravaged their area in Sitio Taguntongan, Barangay Suba, Cebu City, at 4:20 a.m. yesterday.
A lighted candle that was left unattended inside a house occupied by the children of Edwin Bacalso and his wife, Jasmine, reportedly caused the fire, said Chief Insp. Rogelio Bongabong Jr., Cebu City fire marshal.
Cebu City Hall’s Social Welfare Office said 66 houses were burned down by the fire and damages were pegged at half a million pesos. The blaze was put out at 5:10 a.m.
Senior Fire Officer Edwin Andayan said their initial investigation showed that the Bacalsos’ eight-year-old son admitted to lighting a candle at night.
“Nagdagkot ko og kandila kay wala man mi suga ug daghag lamok (I lit a candle because we do not have electricity and there are a lot of mosquitoes),” he said in an interview. The family did not have any electricity for the past two weeks.
The mother reportedly slept at a nearby slaughterhouse where there was electricity.
The eldest son said he drove a trisikad to earn a living on Tuesday dawn and was headed home when he saw the flames inside their house.
He said he saw his eight-year-old brother run out of their house.
The two brothers fortunately survived unscathed.
While firefighters try to put out the blaze, the two brothers stayed with the displaced families.
Their mother did not show up. Their father had left the family due to a conflict with their mother.
Jade Bacalso, the kids’ aunt, said she saw the kids lit a candle last Monday.
“Daan naman ko nagpahinumdom ani nila nga dili magduwa og kandila (I already reminded them not to play with lighted candles),” she told reporters.
Bacalso said the family lost their electric connection for failing to pay their bills.
During the fire, 17-year-old Justin Baybay, a bicycle-for-hire driver, emerged a hero when he saved a month-old baby inside one of the burned houses.
He said the boy’s aunt screamed for help and he ran inside the house to save the baby.
“Bahala kon nagbarag-barag ko basta safe lang ang bata. Naluoy ko niya ug sa iyang iyaan (I did not mind if I felt dizzy in going inside the house as long as I could save the baby. I pity the child and his aunt),” Baybay told reporters.
Nagiel Bañacia, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CCDRRMO) chief, said they will continue their investigation with interviews and assessment of the victims.
The fire victims are staying at the Barangay Suba Sports Complex.
Bañacia said they expect the number of victims to rise because some have yet to submit themselves for listing by social welfare personnel.
“There are others who will try to salvage their belongings and rebuild what’s left of their homes,” he said.
Bañacia said yesterday’s fire was the second that hit the area in two years.
“Maybe we can have a reblocking just for a walk-way. It’s hard for people to enter the area,” he said.
Bañacia said the area is a government-owned lot, but some parcels of the lot are already awarded to the actual occupants.
In Talisay City, another fire razed four houses and damaged another house in Sitio Luy-a, Barangay Lawaan Dos in Talisay City at past 10:08 a.m. yesterday. The fire was declared under control after 30 minutes.
Senior Fire Officer Omar Andrew Segovia of the Talisay Fire Station said the fire originated from the second floor of the house of elderly couple Sinfronso and Ceferina Velasco.
Residents, who were affected by the incident, told fire investigators that the couple’s son, 23-year-old Noel Velasco, was smoking a cigarette in the second floor of their home when the fire broke out. No one was hurt.