AS THE yearly observation of the Fire Prevention Month nears, 11 houses were razed in a noon fire that broke out in barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City yesterday.
The fire reportedly started in the house of Jerry Monar in sitio Tangke, said FO3 Climaco Salisid.
Salisid said the cause of fire could be electrical misuse.
But some residents suspected that the fire started in the house in an abandoned handycraft and accessories shop.
“The tshop was already abandoned and had no electrical connection. I believed a lighted cigarette butt was thrown into the shop by some workers constructing a fence,” Remedios Peligro, one of the fire victims, said in Cebuano.
Fire damage was pegged at P170,000. No one was injured in the incident.
The fire broke out at 11:57 a.m. and was contained at 1:30 p.m.
Narrow roads prevented firefighters from quickly reaching the fire scene which was about 100 meters from the main road.
The fire spread quickly as houses in the area were made of light materials.
The fire affected 14 families or about 52 individuals. Food packs have been distributed to fire Oscar Mayol, Lapu-Lapu City’s District Fire Marshall, said it was the fifth fire that happened in the city.
Mayol said trainings , seminars and lectures have been conducted as part of the fire prevention campaign.
Mayol lamented that the city still lacks fire personnel.
“The ideal ratio for every fire truck should be one is to 14 but currently we only have three personnel for every fire truck,” said Mayol.
At present, the city’s fire department has 69 personnel.
Mayol said the city has nine firetrucks, nine of them were donated by the city government while the remaining came from the Bureau of Fire Protection.