Pitalo school loses 2 rooms in fire

Rowena Villa Carlos (right) and Myra Mila Tañan, teachers of Pitalo Elementary School in San Fernando town, are teary-eyed as they look at what remains of their classrooms after a fire hit the school yesterday. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

A 65-year-old school building in Pitalo Elementary School in San Fernando, south  Cebu was gutted by fire yesterday noon.
Fortunately the two classrooms were vacant as students and teachers were out for lunch.

Fire investigators are looking into the possibility that deteriorated electrical wiring  in the old building caused the fire. The  blaze  started at the ceiling, according to witnesses.

The edifice was the former Home Economics building but was being  used as classrooms for grades 1 and 2.

FO3 Orlando Abatayo pegged the damage at P60,000.

Abatayo said they received the alarm at 12:20 p.m. and put the fire under control after five minutes with the help of Naga Fire station. The  fire quickly spread. The  documents and books inside went up in flames.

Grade 5 teacher Dennis Procianos said the blaze started at the ceiling. A pupil informed him that the building was on fire.
No one was injured. Teachers  of the two classrooms had gone home for lunch and locked the rooms.

School principal Era Alia said classes had to be called off in the afternoon to avoid having  curious students milling around the burned building.

“We have to put necessary precautions first and safety cordons to keep them away from the building. Some of the parents rushed to school and fetched their children,” said Alia.

Alia said before the fire, she had recommended to the higher office that repairs be done on the building.

Yesterday’s fire was the third to hit a public  school in Cebu province this year.  On Oct. 4, Bogo Central School lost a school building.

A few days later, Daanlungsod Elementary School in Medellin also lost three classrooms.  Both incidents were caused by deteriorated electrical wiring.