Talisay City firefighters responded to a fire incident in Sitio Baybayon, Barangay Biasong on Saturday morning, September 11. | via Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — An unplugged ceiling fan was likely what started the fire that destroyed three houses and affected 13 individuals on Saturday morning, Sept. 11, in Purok Baybayon, Barangay Biasong, Talisay City.
That is according to what the owner of the house, where the fire started, told Fire Officer Jayson Balbag, investigator of the Talisay City Fire Station.
But Balabag of Talisay City Fire Station said that they had yet to confirm this pending their investigation.
“As per owner, nalimtan nilag ibot ang ceiling fan pero amoa pa na ifinal kung mao ba gyud,” Balabag said.
(As per the owner, he said he forgot to unplug the ceiling fan [on the second floor], but they have yet to finalize this if this is really the cause of the fire.)
Balabag said that they received the fire alarm from the barangay at 10:35 a.m. and arrived there at 10:41 a.m.
Thirty minutes later, they already declared the areas affected as fire out.
Initially, Balabag said that there were at least three houses that were affected by the fire.
The two-story house, which was owned by Maria Victoria Panogalinog, 42, where the fire started, was razed by the fire.
The two neighboring houses were just damaged by the fire because these houses were 50 percent made of concrete and 50 percent made of wood.
Balabag said that the family members did not notice a fire had started at the second floor because they were all on the ground floor at that time.
He said no one was injured in the fire.
He also estimated the damage to property at P210,000.
Balabag said that, as of this posting, they had no information yet whether the barangay had already given the three affected families or 13 individuals their needed assistance.
Aside from that, he also reminded the public to always unplug their appliances when these were not being used.
Balabag made the call because this was the second fire in September that they had responded to and were most likely electrical-related fires.
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