With 4 fires in 3 days, Cebu City fire chief shares safety tips to public

A firefighter battles the blaze during the dawn fire that hit a house in Barangay Quiot, Cebu City on July 4. | Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Be mindful of the electric load in your house that your electric wires or connections can handle. 

Fire Chief Inspector Josephus Alburo, Cebu City Fire Marshall, gave this advice to the public after four fires hit Cebu City in just three days.

Alburo said that the public should coordinate with a licensed electrician or if the barangay had one, a barangay electrician, with regard to how much load their electric connections could handle.

He also said that they should also coordinate with licensed electricians on the electric connections in their houses and not just to do it themselves.

He also said that the public should also be conscious in charging gadgets and that they should just always check on it and even not to forget it that they were charging their gadgets.

He also said that also would go with appliances.

He said that these simple things could save your house or yourselves from a possible fire.

Alburo’s advice came after fire investigators believe that a dawn fire on Thursday, July 4, on Barangay Quiot, Cebu City was caused possibly by a faulty electrical wiring or an electrical misuse.

Senior Fire Office 1 (SFO1) Renato Borres, Cebu City fire investigator, estimated the damage to property at P50,000.

The fire destroyed the second floor of the two story house owned by Robert Go.

Go told Borres that at past 2 a.m., they noticed smoke coming the ceiling and then the fire started.

He and his wife managed to escape and call the fire department.

Borres said the fire alarm was reported at 2:06 and it was placed under control at 2:20 a.m.

Fire investigators inspect a dirty kitchen of a house in Barangay San Nicolas where the fire started at past 9 p.m. on July 3. | Benjie Talisic

Five hours earlier or at 9 p.m. of July 3, in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City, firefighters also responded to a fire alarm.

SFO2 Alexander Laboga, fire investigator, said that the fire was already out when they arrived at the fire scene.

Laboga said a house owned by Helen Vergara was damaged by the fire.

He said that the fire was believed to have started at the dirty kitchen where Vergara would make lumpia wrapper.

Laboga said that the damage caused by the fire was only minimal and estimated it at P500.

Firefighters get ready to battle the fire which razed a KTV Bar in D. Jakosalem Street at dawn on July 3. | Benjie Talisic

Read more: KTV bar in Jakosalem Street catches fire 

But 19 hours earlier or at past 2 a.m. on July 3, in D. Jakosalem Street in Cebu City, a dawn fire destroyed a KTV Bar.

SFO2 Rafael Basabe, fire investigator, said that they estimated the damage to property at P120,000.

Basabe said that the fire started at KTV Bar’s kitchen.

He said that the fire alarm was received at 2:22 a.m. and this was raised to the second alarm at 2:39 a.m.

The Cebu City Fire Department declared a fire out at 3:38 a.m.

He said that the KTV Bar was owned by Caridad Tumangan, but she was only leasing the place to its owner Rosita Lopez.

Basabe said that they were still investigating the cause of the fire.

A firefighter turns his water hose on a still burning house in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, during the fire on July 2. | Benjie Talisic

Read more: Fire devours 25-year-old house in Barangay Guadalupe

The first fire incident of the month happened on July 2 or Tuesday, where a 25-year-old house in Barangay Guadalupe was destroyed by a late afternoon fire.

This happened at least nine hours after the D. Jakosalem St. fire.

The owner of the house, Ruben Yu, told Basabe that the house was worth P5 million.

Basabe said that they received the fire alarm at 5:02 p.m. of July 2 and this was placed under control 5:23 p.m.

He said that the fire started at a storage area inside the garage of the house and it quickly spread throughout the house.

Basabe also said that based on their interview with the owner they were suspecting that the fire started from an unplugged appliance in the house.

However, he said they were still trying to confirm this possibility of the fire’s cause./dbs