An early evening fire destroys 259 houses in Barangay Suba, Cebu City on February 26, 2020. | Gerard Francisco
CEBU CITY, Philippines — An early evening fire in Barangay Suba, Cebu City displaced hundreds of families after it razed 259 houses in a residential area in Sitio Santo Niño, Barangay Suba, Cebu City at past 7 p.m. of Wednesday, February 26, 2020.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Novo Erana of the Cebu City Fire Department, said that they estimated the damage to property at P1.5 million.
According to Jeffrey Ibonez, Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS) chief, in an interview at the evacuation center at Barangay Suba and Barangay Pasil Sports Complex, that they could not yet give the exact number of displaced fire victims, but by using the DSWS formula of one household being made up five persons, then it would probably be over a thousand persons.
Where, how it started
Meanwhile, Erana said that initial investigation showed that the fire started at the second floor ceiling of the house of a Jerry Cabido.
Because of this, they were verifying Cabido’s information and they were investigating the start of the fire to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring.
Based on Cabido’s statement, they heard a sparkling sound and then they started to smell a foul odor.
Erana said that the Cabido family after seeing thick smoke coming out of the second floor of their house, ran outside their house.
It only took a few minutes for the fire to eat up the second floor of the house of Cabido, which was made of light materials and the fire spread to nearby houses as well.
At 7:36 p.m., the Cebu City Fire Department raised the fire alarm to Tash Force Bravo.
This means that all the other nearby fire departments outside Cebu City has been called to assist in putting out the fire.
At 8:53 p.m. or nearly an hour after, the Cebu City Fire Department declared the fire as under control.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of fire victims were housed in Barangay Suba and Barangay Pasil sports center./dbs