Investigators : Unattended lamp possible cause of Labangon fire

The fire that hit a residential area in A. Lopez Street, Brgy. Labangon, Cebu City on Thursday, February 16. | Photo from Renzo del Rosario / Cebu City DRRMO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — An unattended lighted metal oil lamp could have started the fire on Feb. 16 that destroyed 15 houses in A. Lopez Street in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City.

Fire Officer (FO3) Fulbert Navarro, investigator of the Cebu City Fire Station, said that this was one of the possibilities as the cause of the fire that they were investigating. 

Navarro said that the fire left 100 individuals homeless after it razed 13 houses and gutted two others.

For his part, Labangon Barangay Captain Vic Buendia, said that these fire victims were temporarily staying at the Blessed Elementary School and the barangay was tending to their needs there.

As for Navarro, he said that aside from unattended lighted metal lamp as the possible cause of the fire, they were also verifying reports about an alleged pot session in the area and a fight between couple, which could have started the fire.

He emphasized that these allegations were still being verified and investigated.

He also said that the unattended metal oil lamp as possible cause of the fire was more plausible in the sense that there was no electricity at the house where the fire started.

He also said the owner of the house and its other occupants were only using the metal oil lamps for their light during night time.

“Mura pa ha, ato pa na gitanaw kay mao may pinakaduol gud unya ang gigamit nila nga suga kay ether lamparilya daw or solar,” Navarro said.

(That is what we are closely looking into because they use either a lamp or a solar [for their lights].)

However, Navarro said that they still had to gather more evidence to verify this possibility.

He also said that fire investigators had received reports that there were two individuals who were injured during the fire.

But Navarro said that they were still checking on this because they really had no information about these individuals who allegedly suffered burns on different parts of their bodies during the fire.

Navarro said that the damage to property caused by the fire was estimated to be P1.3 million.

To recall on Thursday, Feb. 16, firefighters responded to a fire alarm in A. Lopez Street, Barangay Labangon, Cebu City at 4:03 p.m. They immediately raised it to first alarm at 4:04 p.m. as the flames rapidly spread to nearby houses.

About 40 minutes later, the firefighters placed the fire under control and at 4:49 p.m. , they declared it fire out.

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