22 houses destroyed; 141 left homeless

Firefighters battle the Barangay Tejero fire, which started at 7:58 a.m. and was put out 15 minutes later. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

A morning fire in Barangay Tejero destroyed 22 structures and displaced more than 100 individuals.

According to Harold Alcontin of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO), a total of 141 individuals, who made up 35 families, were displaced by yesterday’s fire.

Tejero Barangay Councilman Garry Lao said the fire victims were temporarily housed at the barangay’s sports complex.

The city government will be providing the affected families with food meals for the next three days.

Lao said they would hold a special session today to discuss the plight of the fire victims as well as other concerns in the area.

“That area is really difficult to penetrate. It has narrow roads and is populated. We will be discussing what we can do about that,” he said.

Firefighters battle the Barangay Tejero fire, which started at 7:58 a.m. and was put out 15 minutes later.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

SFO4 Jovito Abelgas of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said they received the report at 7:58 a.m. after one of the residents in the fire site in Sitio Villagonzalo II called.

The fire was immediately declared under control by 8:16 am.

Abelgas said they were checking reports that the fire allegedly started from the house of one of the residents who was burning rubbish outside her house.

Based on initial records from the CCDRRMO, 16 houses were destroyed by the fire while another six were damaged.

Alcontin said most of the victims were house renters and sharers.

He said the city government would provide housing materials as well as financial assistance for the fire victims after the assessment.

No one was injured during the incident.

The BFP pegged the damage at P300,000.