Residents of Sitio Pasil, Barangay Logon in Malapascua help each other in putting out a fire that razed 10 houses on Sunday afternoon, August 15, 2021. | Photo from Daanbatayan Motoclub DMC Emergency Rescue Unit
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Residents in Sitio Pasil in Barangay Logon on Malapascua Island, Daanbantayan town, northern Cebu helped put out a fire that razed at least 10 houses on Sunday afternoon, August 15, 2021.
Logon barangay captain Lemuel Daño said the fire started at around 4 p.m. and lasted for more than an hour as it was put out through barangayanihan system.
Daño also revealed the possible cause of the fire.
“Bata daw nga nagduwa og posporo unya naduslitan ang noog. Unya nag siga, gipawng. Nagtuo ang bata og napawong na but still naa pa diay toy kayo. Maong hinungdan sa sunog,” Daño said.
(A child was said to be playing with a match and accidentally lit a fabric. The fabric lit up but the fire was said to be put out immediately. The child believed it was totally extinguished but it wasn’t. That started the fire.)
Daño said it took five minutes for residents in the area to notice the fire but since the houses were made of light materials, it only took a while before it spread.
Daño said the fire was put out at around 5:30 p.m.
He said at least ten houses were totally burned in the fire. Fortunately, there were no reports of injured individuals or fatalities in the incident.
For now, Daño said that he already advised residents to stay in the evacuation area in their barangay. He added that some fire victims opted to stay with their relatives.
Daño said that they have also planned to provide assistance including 10 kilos of rice and sardines to all fire victims.
He said they have fire hydrants in their barangay but the hose was not sufficient to be used at that time.
“The municipality of Daanbantayn LGU naghatag na sa amoa og project regarding aning fire hydrant. But still dili ma accommodate kay ang nasunugan layo sa iyang fire box. It needs many hoses para makaabot gyud ngadto. At that time, wa na namo nahimo. So ang gibuhat, nagkuhag fire extinguisher, ang mga tawo, balde, gikan dagat ngadto sa nasunugan hangtod sa naugdaw gyud ang kayo,” he said.
The Daanbantayan Fire Station, which was at the mainland, said they will conduct an investigation on Monday, August 16.
/bmjo