Fire rekindles thrice, damage is P800,000

An estimated P800,000 in property went up in smoke yesterday when a fire broke out early morning at a commercial building in front of the Unit II of Carbon Market in barangay Ermita.

Firemen rushed to the scene at dawn yesterday and after putting it out in 35 minutes declared a fire out.

However, the fire wasn’t really totally put out as it was rekindled a few hours later forcing firemen to return to the scene.  That was not the end of it as in another couple of hours, they got another call to return to the scene since the fire was rekindled again.

This time, the firefighters used their aerial ladders to help then train their hoses to the inner part of the burnt building.

The rekindling of fires is usually caused by not hitting the base of the fire or some parts of the burnt houses that the water could not hit due to fallen debris.

Most of the occupants of the three-storey building were business establishments.

The building was owned by Mempha Sarmiento and was rented by businessman Jimmy Lee, owner of Jims enterprises; Cecille Pila and Emie Valencia.

The fire alarm was received by the fire department at around 2:10 am and  Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla called a third alarm due so more units would come to prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby establishments and shanties.

“Usa sa problema ato na encounter dinhi mao ang kalisod sa aerial ladder makasud sa MC briones street kay gamay kaayo ang lugar. Unya dugay sab nakasud kay lock ang mga roll up doors,” Codilla said.

Fire fighters used metal power cutters to open the doors.

SFO2 Felix Romero the duty fire investigator told The Freeman that the fire started at the second floor of Jims Enterprises. No one was inside the said building when it happened.

 “Sagad sa mga tawo moingon nga nagsugod sa second floor pero kun unsay hinungdan maglisod pata og establish kay walay tawo nahibilin sud sa building,” Romero at the fire scene.

But later yesterday, Romero said they received information from bystanders in the area before the fire broke out, they reportedly heard zapping sound from an electric post and the wire leading to the second floor of the said building.

Romero said that the fire was rekindled due to strong winds and that some parts of the building were not thoroughly looked into by the fire fighters since the building appeared that it might collapse. — Edwin Ian Melecio with reports from Ramil Ayuman and Wenna A. Berondo/NLQ