Banawa fire leaves 25 families homeless

CEBU, Philippines - Over P400,000 worth of properties went up in smoke when a fire gutted down 15 houses in Sitio Kalubihan Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe yesterday afternoon.

FO3 Antonio Gonzales, Cebu City Fire Department investigator, said the second alarm fire broke out at 2:20 p.m. and was controlled 23 minutes later.

Based on their investigation, he said the fire originated from the house of Cesar Saballa which was being rented by the families of Joel Cuico and Simeon Andan, who were occupying the ground floor, and Susan Villagonzalo, who was occupying the whole second floor.

Gonzales said Villagonzalo narrated in her affidavit that she was doing her laundry at the ground floor of the house when she heard a loud explosion coming from the room occupied by Andan that was then followed by a raging fire.

The investigator and the rest of the firefighters believed that there were appliances inside Andan’s room that were not turned off that eventually triggered the fire. The two-door apartment was among those included in the list of totally burned structures.

The fire spread fast to the nearby houses because they were mostly made of mix concrete and light materials and were close to each other.

As of press time, Gonzales said they are still looking for Andan, who did not yet appear after the incident.

Five fire trucks from the Cebu City Fire Department were sent to the area. Other fire volunteers also responded to help control the fire.

According to Gonzales, they had a hard time penetrating the fire scene because of the narrow pathways leading there. To remedy the problem, he said they have to connect the hoses together from the main road towards the area which is about 200 meters.

There were around 25 families affected by the fire but luckily no one was reported hurt during the incident.

Affected residents temporarily put up tents near the area while social welfare officers from the city government and the barangay extended assistance to the victims. — Niña G. Sumacot/WAB (THE FREEMAN)