Burning teener rescued from fire: 2 other fires in Consolacion, Liloan

CEBU, Philippines - Had it not been for her elder brother, 16-year-old Liezel Costanilla may have been dead by now.

Gabriel Costanilla, 22, found his sister lying inside their burning house yesterday in Andress Abellana, sitio Sta. Lucia, Barangay Guadalupe, with her clothes and hair already aflame.

Aside from their house, 12 more houses were destroyed while two others were damaged by the fire which broke out just before 1 p.m. yesterday.

Gabriel, not minding the fire, rushed to her sister’s rescue and tried to carry her.

“Unya kay huslo na man iyang sanina hasta iyang panit,” he said, adding that Liezel was still able to talk.

“Ingon pa siya nako, ‘Kuya, si Liezel ni.’ Akong giingnan, ‘O day, ayaw kahadlok, mabuhi pa lagi ka,” Gabriel said, and started carefully wrapping her sister’s body with dry clothes and rushed her outside.

With the help of their neighbors and the responding personnel from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF), the girl was taken to the Cebu Doctor’s Hospital.

Senior Fire Officer 3 Jimmy Layao, the fire investigator, said the girl sustained second degree burns on her face and body.

The victim, a second year high school student of Ramon Duterte Memorial National High School, was sleeping when the fire broke out.

“Kay muskwela pa lagi unta siya unyang gabii kay night class man,” Gabriel said.

The girl was awakened by the extreme heat. Upon realizing that there was a fire, she helped in taking their nephews and nieces outside and in putting out the fire with pails of water.

Before she knew it, she was already trapped inside the house. Gabriel went back to their house to check if any of the children was left behind, only to discover his sister lying on her back.

Liezel is the youngest among 11 children, Gabriel said.

Jiovanni Cupio, 30, was also taken to the Cebu City Medical Center after fainting because of suffocation, Cebu City Fire Marshal Aderson Comar said.

Early reports about two children trapped in the fire were negative, Comar said.

The fire was raised to the general alarm within Cebu City.

Comar said the fire originated from the second floor of the house of Danilo Cupio, Jiovanni’s father.

Comar said they are conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

The firewall from a subdivision prevented the fire from eating up other houses.

The rain also helped the firemen put out the fire. They were able to control the fire eight minutes after they received the report at 12:42 pm.

They found difficulty, though, in penetrating the area, Comar said. He said they have to connect hoses to reach the fire scene.

“Ang mga fire trucks natanggong sa main road. Maglisod ug sulod kay ang karsada downhill unya narrow ang road. Maglisod ta ug maneuver kay mas daghan ang mga tawo. Maayo unta ug nanabang sila,” he said.

Guadalupe Barangay Captain Michael Gacasan said they put up tents at a vacant lot of the nearby PJV Homes were the victims are being housed temporarily.

In another incident, one was injured when an early morning fire yesterday hit a building in barangay Yati, Liloan.

Also razed by the fire were two multicabs and two motorcycles owned by Melvin Montillano, who was injured in his left leg when he tried his son who was sleeping inside their room.

The Liloan Fire Station received the fire alarm about 12:15 in the morning after the call was relayed by the Liloan Police Station.

Montillano said the fire was possibly caused by a cigarette butt accidentally thrown at the accumulated waste from a band saw.

Montillano had a furniture fabrication at the ground floor of his house.

The fire also damaged two units of the residential building owned by brothers Emil and Nilo Gonzales.

Montillano allegedly blamed the firemen for not responding to the alarm immediately.

 But Fire Officer 1 Edwin Jopia denied this.

“Siya ra ang hinungdan nga nalangay kay wala kapanawag dayon sa bombero unya ang pulis na maoy nanawag namo,” Jopia said. (He did not call the fire station, it was the police who called us.)

Meanwhile, another fire razed a residential building in sitio Pandayan, barangay Poblacion Occidental, Consolacion Friday afternoon.

The portion rented by Lydia Inso was destroyed while the unit where Rolando Meñoza Jr. was staying was damaged.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Renato Lacang of the Consolacion Fire Station suspected that faulty electrical wirings caused of the fire. (FREEMAN)