Carmen, Talisay fires destroy P1M worth of properties

A fire that hit a bust stop in Barangay Luyang, Carmen town, left an estimated P800,000 worth of damage to property. | Photo screen grabbed from a contributed photo via Paul Lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — More than a million pesos or P1.17 million worth of property went up in smoke after two separate fires at least five hours apart today, March 19, hit a bus stop or bus station in Carmen town in northern Cebu and a two-story house in Talisay City in southern Cebu.

The first fire happened in a bus station in Barangay Luyang, Carmen town and destroyed an estimated P800,000 worth of property.

Nearly five hours later, a fire hit a two-story house in Barangay Linao, Talisay City in southern Cebu, causing an estimated P370,000 worth of damage to the house.

WATCH: Fire engulfs Carmen bus terminal

In the Carmen fire, investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fire of the bus station.

Fire Officer 3 (FO3)  Edea Maria Negrido of Carmen Fire Station, said no residential houses were affected by the fire because firefighters made sure that the fire would not spread to the nearby houses.

Negrido said preventing the fire from spreading to the nearby houses was one of the challenges that the firefighters faced in battling the fire.

She said that the fire was reported at 10:50 a.m. today, March 19, and they were able to respond immediately.

The fire was declared under control at 11:15 a.m. and it was declared fire out at 12:55 p.m.

Negrido said that it took them almost 2 hours to put out the fire because of the wind and that we wanted to make sure that the fire would not rekindle.

She also said that this was first fire incident in the town in March.

With this incident, Negrido encouraged the public to be more careful and mindful about their appliances and devices or in cooking their meals to prevent fire incidents from happening.

“Ang komunidad magamping lang unta sa kanunay. For example, magsaksak tag appliances, di gyud nato byaan. Og maggamit og cellphone, atoa na gyud tanggalon sa iyang outlet. Sa pagluto, dili pod nato byaan, magsalig raba nga naa ra dinha,” she added.

(The community should always be careful. For example, if we plug our appliances, we should not leave it with the plug still in the outlet. And if we are using our cellphones (that we are charging), we should remove it from the outlet. In cooking, we should not leave it because usually we think that it is just there.)

Carmen is a 3rd class municipality in Cebu province. It is estimated to be at least 42 kilometers north of Cebu City.

Talisay fire

WATCH: Fire guts house in Talisay

Five hours later in Talisay City on the other side of Cebu in south of Cebu, another fire hit a residential area and damaged a house in a subdivision in Barangay Linao.

Fire investigators of the Talisay Fire Station estimated the damage to property at P370,000.

According to the report of the Talisay City Fire Station, the fire started in a room at the second floor of the two-story house at past 3 p.m.

Gyn Elumbaring, one of those living in the house, told fire investigators that she and a companion had just arrived from the house from work when she and her companion smelled something burning on the second floor.

“Pagsaka sa kwarto, ang kadtong stainless sa bed nalanay na siya then ang kutson nasunog na,” Elumbaring said.

(When we went up to the room [on the second floor], the stainless bed and the cushion on top of it were already on fire.)

The report of the Talisay City Fire Station said that the estimated damage to property caused by the fire was pegged at P370,000.

The report stated that the fire was put out after 25 minutes.

Talisay City is a 3rd class component of city of Cebu Province, which is situated at least 10 kilometers south of Cebu City.

READ: Bus catches fire in Consolacion, no injured

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