The fire in Sitio Tevil Villagonzalo, Brgy. Tejero, Cebu City on September 28, 2023, left 150 individuals homeless. | Photo by Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Did someone deliberately start the Barangay Tejero fire that gutted 23 houses early Thursday afternoon, September 28?
Fire investigators have information that this may be so.
Flames erupted in Sitio Tevil Villagonzalo at 1:39 p.m. on Thursday. The fire gutted down 23 houses, and partially damaged five more, ultimately displacing 35 families or 150 residents.
Upon arriving at the fire site, officials raised the first and second alarms at 1:43 p.m. and 1:53 p.m. respectively. A fireout was declared at 2:09 p.m.
A total of 36 fire trucks responded to the scene, said Fire Investigator 3 Fulbert Navarro.
It took firefighters less than 30 minutes to put the flames under control and declare a fire out. However, it spread quickly since most structures in the area were made of light materials.
No one hurt, damages pegged at P1.8M
Fire investigators pegged the damages at P1.8 million.
No one was reported hurt.
Meanwhile, Navarro said the fire originated from the house owned by a certain Hasel Araneta.
The fire official also said they are conducting further investigation into reports that a mentally challenged woman may have deliberately set off the Tejero fire. /rcg
RELATED STORIES
Lolo from Toledo Cebu loses money to fire, but netizens come to rescue
Mandaue fire that razed house started by spark from repaired multicab
Huge fire engulfs market in Bangladeshi capital