Some fire victims returned to their burnt homes in Sitio Bahaw, Barangay T. Padilla on Tuesday morning hoping to save some of their belongings. CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
Fire victims from Barangay T. Padilla in Cebu City are in need of food, sleeping mats, clothes and potable water.
Leoncia Balde, 66, said that she was barely able to save their belongings when fire gutted the house which she occupied with 10 other members of her family in Sitio Bahaw, Barangay T. Padilla past 5 p.m. on Monday.
Members of the Balde family now crowd the barangay sports complex, where they will be allowed to stay until Saturday, with the other fire victims.
The fire which broke at 5:58 p.m. and was believed to have started from a butane canister explosion burned 38 homes made from light and concrete materials and damaged two others.
Nagiel Bañacia, head of the Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Office (CCRRM), said the fire left 80 families consisting of 500 individuals homeless.
Senior Fire Officer 2 (SFO2) Jovito Abelgas said that the fire was traced to have started at the room of a certain Reymond Besin, one of the renters at the second floor of the house owned Era Ortega.
“We’re still further verifying if the butane was the cause of the fire,” Abelgas said.
Damage from 15-minute fire was pegged at P500,000.
Bañacia said that while no one was injured or killed during the fire, one of the fire victims succumbed to heart attack at around 10 p.m. or four hours after the fire was put out.
The 51-year-old victim, Bañacia said, collapsed while visiting the fire site.
Bañacia said the victim went back to see if there was something that he could still save from his burnt home when he suddenly collapsed.
“He (the victim) was rushed to CCMC (Cebu City Medical Center) but he was declared dead upon arrival,” said Bañacia.
As to the fire victims needs, Bañacia said that the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) will start to distribute kitchen utensils, toiletries and sleeping mats to the fire victims either on Wednesday or Thursday.
He said that each of the fire affected families are also set to receive cash assistance of P25, 000 from City Hall soon./Delta Dyrecka Letigio USJR Intern