A firefighter battles the morning fire in Barangay Punta Princesa in Cebu City which destroyed 10 houses. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Public warned after reports initially blamed butane canisters as cause of Punta fire
The Department of Energy-Visayas is calling on the public to stop patronizing refilled butane canisters in their homes in cooking food as they are dangerous and can cause fire. Engineer Antonio Labios, DOE Visayas director, said that on top of refilled butane canister being prohibited by law, it is also unsafe to use as it can explode.
Labios said that butane canisters contain butane used for lighters and camping stoves, but once refilled, the container is filled with LPG or liquefied petroleum gas.
“Ang sakto nato nga tawag ana is LPG-filled butane canister (The right term for that is LPG-filled butane canister),” he said.
“Ang original ana niya nga sulod is butane para sa mga lighter, sa camping stove lang. So dili na nimo pwede refill-an og LPG kay number one, sa balaod gidili na siya nga i-refill nimo (The original canister contains butane, which is used in lighters and camping stove, so you cannot refill it with LPG because, one, it is illegal),” he said.
“Ikaduha, unsafe na kay kanang LPG, dili na nimo pwede ibutang sa kana nga klase nga container. Unsafe man na siya, so dako og puruhan nga mobuto na siya. In fact, ang kanang mga LPG nga ibutang nila anang butane canisters, dili gyud na nila punuon, gamay ra ng ibutang nila kay mobuto man na (Second, it is unsafe because you cannot put LPG in that kind of container. There’s a big possibility that it would explode. The LPG-refilled butane canisters are only filled half-way because putting more LPG could cause the canister to explode),” he said.
He also recommended that the public should not use even the butane canisters that are not refilled.
“Gidili gyud na. We strongly advice nga dili gyud na nimo gamiton for safety reasons. Kadtong butane na original, okay ra to siya, allowed ra to siya. We don’t recommend nga ingon ana sa residential (That is prohibited. We strongly advice against using it for safety reasons. The original butane canister is allowed but we would not recommend its use in residential areas),” he said.
Labios made his call after several houses were razed in a Wednesday morning fire in Sacedon Compound, Sitio Caga, Don Bosco Road, Barangay Punta Princesa.
Initial reports claimed that the fire was caused by an exploding refilled butane canister.
But, this was later clarified that the cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit from an electric fan inside the kitchen-turned-bodega of Annalyn Sacedon’s house.
SFO1 Roger Dabalos of the Bureau of Fire Protection said that 10 houses were razed while 3 houses were damaged in the fire.
Dabalos said the houses were made of old light materials.
He said that they received the fire report at 6:49 a.m., which reached the second alarm.
The fire was later declared under control by 7:21 a.m. and was declared fire out by 9:55 a.m. Dabalos said they estimated the damage to property at P300,000.
No one was hurt in the fire that hit Punta Princesa.