Parents told: Don’t let kids play with matches

Firemen train their hoses on a grass fire at a vacant lot fronting the Pedro Calungsod Templete at the South Road Properties (SRP).

Two-hour SRP grassfire prompts warning to parents

WATCH over your children and don’t let your children play with matches that might cause fire.

Chief Insp. Noel Nelson Ababon, Cebu City fire marshal, gave this advise to parents after a grass fire broke out on a vacant lot beside SM Seaside City and the area in front of the San Pedro Calungsod templete in the South Road Properties on Sunday afternoon.

Ababon said the grass fire, which was reported at 2:53 p.m. took them two hours to put out because of the strong wind, the noon heat and the dry grass in the area.

He said that an initial investigation showed that children were seen playing with fire near the unused tower of the SRP, the area where the fire started.

Aside from that, Ababon also warned about burning garbage (magdaob) at noon or in the afternoon when the temperature would be expected to be high at this time.

At past 1 p.m. on Sunday, the heat index in Cebu reached 42 degrees Celsius.

Nedz Saletrero, weather specialist 1 of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Mactan, said that they recorded a temperature of 33.6 degrees Celcius at 1:52 p.m.

This is the hottest temperature this month, Saletrero said in Cebuano.

She said that once the heat index would reach 40 degrees Celsius, the heat would be dangerous to infants and elders.