Firefighters prepare to battle the fire that hit Barangay Duljo Fatima, Cebu City early this morning. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 13-year-old boy died in a fire that hit Sitio Lower Galile, Brgy. Duljo Fatima in Cebu City, on Sunday, December 5, 2024, at around 3:20 a.m.
The victim was identified as Wrenchford Cahan, a resident of the area.
The fire alarm was raised to first alarm status, was declared under control at 4:12 a.m. and declared fire out at 4:23 a.m.
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According to the Cebu City Fire Station in its initial report, the fire started at the house of Marites Ybañez.
Cahan was the adopted child of Ybañez.
Ybañez, who was interviewed by members of the media, said that the fire started on the first floor of her two-story house.
When they woke up, the flames were already huge.
Ybañez and her family were able to escape by jumping from the second floor of their house.However, the victim was trapped inside the house due to the huge flames.
In another part of the sitio, three adults and a baby were rescued by firefighters from the roof of their two-story house.
As shown in from a contributed video via CDN Correspondent Paul Lauro, the three adults went to the roof to escape the fire starting to eat at their house as it spread from neighboring houses.
Fortunately, firefighters arrived, managed to set up a ladder to bring the three adults and the baby to safety.
The early morning fire, destroyed 20 houses and damaged 5 others.
The fire has affected 30 families or 120 individuals.
The Cebu City Fire Station also estimated that the damage to property at around P900,000.
The firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire. | With Paul Lauro