The house where James Sorbella died after succumbing to the heat and smoke caused by Sunday’s fire.
CDN Photo/Norman Mendoza
DESPITE losing his father to jail due to illegal drugs, nine-year-old James Sorbella always dreamed of becoming a police officer.
He still believed in his dream even as firefighters found him dead clutching a Bible as a fire razed his home in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City last Sunday afternoon.
A Grade 3 pupil of Gun-ob Elementary School, James was one of four children of Ritchell Sorbella who were endorsed to the care of their grandmother Editha Sorbella.
His three siblings noticed thick smoke coming out of the house but didn’t know then whether James left the house or not.
They ran and sought help to put out the fire and Lapu-Lapu City firefighters arrived in the area at 3:31 p.m.
Minutes after they put out the fire, firefighters saw James’s remains clutching a Bible.
“Wala na siguro siya kaagwanta sa kainit o sa kaaso sa sulod, mao nga wala na siya nakagawas (He was unable to endure the heat or the smoke and so cannot get out),” his grandmother Editha said.
Sorbella, a female pastor who attended a church meeting some distance away, said their door had a wire hooked on a nail outside to prevent it from opening ajar.
Fire investigator SFO1 Hadjiludin Samonte said damages were at P15,000 and the cause of the fire had yet to be known.
But Editha’s son Benjie said James once told him about a spark caused by a portion of the wiring inside the house and he fixed it by covering it with tape.