Damage in Kinasang-an fire pegged at P80,000

CEBU, Philippines - At least three residential houses were destroyed, one partially burned, after a fire broke out before noon yesterday in the interior portion of Villa Concepcion, Barangay Kinasang-an, Cebu City.

Damage left by the fire was estimated to have reached P80,000.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Nilo Daculan said that the fire gutted the two-storey houses owned by Cyrus Destacamento and Jose Lopez. The other, which was partially burned, was owned by one Pedro Baclayon.

The Cebu City Fire Department tapped the alarm at 11:20 a.m. It was then raised to first alarm.

Daculan said four fire trucks were dispatched to the area and were able to control the fire in three minutes. The neighbors of the victims also helped in preventing the fire from spreading to the nearby houses.

Daculan said that the fire started in the room at the second floor of Destacamento’s house. His house as well as Lopez’s and Baclayon’s were a mix of concrete and light materials.

The fire investigator told The FREEMAN that nobody was hurt physically in the incident, but Destacamento’s two kids were said to have been traumatized as they were the first to have witnessed the fire.

He said that among the angles they are looking into as to the cause of the fire are faulty electrical wiring/misuse, or open flames.

Destacamento reportedly told Daculan that his children, aged three and four years old, were watching television at the living room near the bedroom when the fire, which allegedly started on their bed, suddenly broke out.

Destacamento and his wife were at the ground floor of the house when the fire occurred. He learned of the incident after he saw his seemingly horrified children, at the stairs, running in haste from the second floor.

Daculan said they will wait till the children would be able to speak of the incident as they could have possibly played matchsticks or other lighted materials which may have triggered the fire. – Niña G. Sumacot/MEEV ( FREEMAN NEWS)