FIRE IN PARADISE

 

Search continues for 2 missing brothers, ages 1 and 3

Two young brothers went missing and at least a thousand residents were rendered homeless in three-hour fire that hit a densely populated coastal community called Sitio New Paradise in Barangay Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City on Friday and razed nearly 400 houses to the ground.

The children, ages 1 and 3 years old, are sons of a certain Jennifer Cañedo, who was living on the second floor of a house owned by her father, Medilio Cañedo, in Sitio New Paradise, where the fire was said to have started.

SFO2 Climaco Salisid, fire investigator of Lapu-Lapu City Fire Central District, said the fire that originated in the house of Cañedo and reported at 5:10 p.m. spread to Sitios Kitchen and Camansi before it was placed under control at 8:20 p.m.

Salisid said before the fire started, neighbors saw Jennifer’s 4-year-old daughter playing with match sticks and sheets of paper, which might have caused the fire.

Jennifer was reported to have fled from the house in a hurry with her four-year-old daughter after the fire broke out but had left behind her two other children, said Salisid, quoting the woman’s neighbors.

Firemen and barangay tanods (village watchmen) were still searching for the missing children past 10 p.m. on Friday.

Based on initial investigation, Salisid said an estimated 220 households or 600 individuals are affected by the fire.

But Pajo Barangay Captain Junard Chan said that Sitio Paradise alone has 550 households based on the latest census.

He estimated that around 300 to 400 households were affected by the fire based on initial assessment, which, if converted to individuals, might reach 1,200 to 2,000.

Smoke inhalation victims

Chan said most of Sitio New Paradise was affected and portions of Sitio Camansi and Sitio Kitchen were razed by the fire.

Chan said the fire victims were temporarily housed at the Pajo Elementary School and Pajo High School compounds.

The Philippine Red Cross Lapu-Lapu Cordova Chapter brought two persons, who are suffering from smoke inhalation, to the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital.

A Cebu City ambulance also brought two other persons suffering from smoke inhalation to the same hospital.

The Sitio Paradise fire was the worst of the four fire incidents that broke out yesterday in the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu, dividing the attention of firefighters.

Fire Senior Insp. Eulalio Muñez, officer in charge of the Lapu-Lapu City Fire Central District, said it took them at least three hours to control the flame, as the affected sitios were among the thickly populated coastal communities in Lapu-Lapu City that are located between the two Mandaue-Mactan bridges.

Other fire incidents

While firefighters were responding to the Pajo fire, another alarm was reported at the back of the City Hoopsdome in Sitio Humay-Humay in Barangay Gun-ob located about three kilometers from the Pajo fire site.

Within a few minutes after the Pajo fire was placed under control at 8:20 p.m., another fire alarm was reported in Sitio Lower Ma. Gochan in Barangay Quiot, Cebu City.

At about 8:40 p.m., another fire alarm, this time affecting a convenience store, was reported in Barangay Opao, Mandaue City.

While the Pajo fire was blamed on a child playing with matches, the Gun-ob fire, which damaged one home, was blamed on butane explosion.

Firefighters have yet to determine the causes of Cebu City and Mandaue fires, which were immediately put out and did not cause much damage to properties.

Playing with matches

Benjie Coronel, a resident of Sitio New Paradise, said he saw two children playing with matches at the dirty kitchen on the second floor of the residence of spouses Lilia and Medilio Cañedo.

The second floor was occupied by the couple’s single daughter Jennifer and her five children aged 1, 3, 4, 5 and 9 years old.

Jennifer told fire investigators that she left her children playing near their kitchen area while she was resting inside her room and was startled when she saw thick smoke entering the room.

She said she could barely see because of the thick smoke and pain that she felt on her eyes as she rushed to the ground floor of her parents’ house made of light materials.

Jennifer said she also thought that her children have left their burning house.

Fire trucks from Metro Cebu areas responded to the Pajo fire, when it was placed general alarm some 20 minutes after it broke.

Pajo fire victims tried to salvage their belongings before they fled the fire site. Most of them crowded M. L. Quezon Street, the national highway which separated the barangay from the Lapu-Lapu City hall block.

Victims’ count

The listing of fire victims was ongoing at the Lapu-Lapu City gymnasium as of 10 p.m.

Andy Berame, head of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO), said after they were listed, fire victims were being transferred to their temporary shelters at the Pajo gym and the barangay’s elementary and high school.

Overhauling operations continued as of 9:30 p.m.

Damaged to property caused by the Pajo fire was pegged at P550,000 based on their 220 fire-affected households count.

However, Salisid said their estimate was expected to increase after they finalize their list of fire-affected homes.

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