20 houses gutted down by fire in Mandaue City

CEBU, Philippines – Twenty houses were totally burned while five others were partially damaged when a second alarm fire hit Sitio Bildohan in Barangay Looc, Mandaue city at 8:28 a.m. yesterday.

The incident created chaos in the nearby Mandaue City Jail, which immediately took precautions to prevent the blaze from spreading to the facility. 

A jailguard detailed at the roof deck of the city jail was the one who first noticed the fire and immediately told his companions to secure all the inmates.

The place hit by fire is also adjacent to the Land Transportation Office-7.

City jail Warden Jessie Calumpang, upon learning of the incident, immediately put to work his newly created fire brigade composed of some jail personnel and trusted inmates, who helped control the fire by pouring water on the houses located near the jail's firewall.

City fire marshal Rogelio Bongabong said they received the fire alarm at 8:28 a.m. and was controlled 20 minutes after.

Bongabong said that when they arrived at the fire scene, several houses were already gutted by the blaze as they found it hard to penetrate the area, which is located in the interior portion of the barangay. He added some residents were also blocking the road while trying to salvage their belongings from being razed.

Fedelita Patalinghug, one of the residents, said she heard a loud explosion and saw the fire broke out from the second floor of the house of Alfredo Apaap.

Fire investigators believe that an electrical short circuit, caused by an overheated ceiling fan, triggered the blaze.

The fire department pegged the damage at P490,000.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes yesterday said the place hit by fire is a government owned lot. For humanitarian reasons, he said he will allow the affected families to reconstruct their houses in the area and live there until such time that the lot will be used by the government.

The 1,000-square meter lot is the city's share from the reclamation area which will be used as the future office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

"Pwede sila makabalik for the time being for humanitarian reason apan kinahanglan hapsay na, kinahanglan naa na gyu'y dalan," Cortes said.

According to him, the city government will provide meals three times per day good for three days to the fire victims, who will also receive housing materials as assistance from the City Hall. (FREEMAN)