Man, who helped pull firemen’s hose, dies after live wire came in contact with his body

A fire that hit more or less 20 houses in Sitio Crossan, Barangay Bulacao in Talisay City, cost a life of a 21-year-old man after he was electrocuted while helping putting out the fire on Saturday, December 17. |Photo courtesy of CT-TODA

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 21-year-old man, who tried to help responding firemen pull their hose at the fire scene in Sitio Crossan, Barangay Bulacao, Talisay City, died today, Dec. 17, after a live wire came in contact with his body, causing him to be electrocuted.

Senior Fire Officer 3 (SFO3) Guiller Pegarido, deputy chief fire marshall of the Talisay City Fire Station, identified the victim as Jonard Requilme.

Pegarido also said that the fire destroyed 20 houses and left 161 individuals homeless.

He, however, said that this number of individuals was still an initial count.

He also said that they estimated the damage to property at P1.5 million.

As for the death of the 21-year-old man, Requilme, and why he was allowed to pull the hose of the firemen at the fire scene, Pegarido said that during fire responses they could not stop anyone from helping them put out the fire.

He, however, encouraged the public to let the fire responders do the firefighting for the safety of everyone.

Pegarido said that the Barangay Bulacao fire was reported at 12:18 p.m. today, Dec. 17.

The firemen immediately raised this to second alarm at about 12:26 p.m., and third alarm at 12:32 p.m. It was placed under control at 1:21 p.m. and was declared fire out at 1:28 p.m. or more or less an hour after the fire started.

He said that they were still investigating what caused the fire.

He also said that one  of the challenges in fighting the fire at Sitio Crossan was it was an area difficult for the fire trucks to penetrate because it was located in an interior portion of Barangay Bulacao and the the roadways were so narrow.

For his part, Bulacao Barangay Captain Banjo Abastillas said that they still continued to count the total number of families and individuals affected by the fire. 

Abastillas said that they had already prepared the basic needs of the fire victims such as food, clothes, among others.

He also said that the barangay would give financial assistance to the fire victims and assured that they would also give P3,000 assistance to the family of Requilme.

As of this posting, the victims were temporarily staying at the barangay gymnasium.

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