Morning blaze destroys house in Barangay Punta Princesa

CEBU, Philippines - A morning fire destroyed a semi-concrete house along F. Pacaña St., Barangay Punta Princesa, Cebu City yesterday leaving an estimated damage of P500,000.

Only the house owned by Bert Leo Abellanosa, who is scheduled to arrive from the United States tomorrow, was destroyed by the fire.

Abellanosa’s two granddaughters, Sillehca Theresa Desoyo and Mary April Abella, were temporarily residing in the said house and are students in one of the universities in Cebu City.

The two were reportedly attending their classes when they received a text message from their neighbor that their two-storey house was on fire around 9:38a.m.

FO2 Omar Segovia, fire field investigator, said that the fire started at the second floor of the house particularly in the room occupied by Desoyo.

Fire engulfed the house when firemen arrived and raised it to 3rd alarm.

Segovia admitted that they failed to go near the house because of the narrow road. It was only the small fire truck of the Labangon fire sub-station which was able to successfully go near the scene.

“Naglisod man mi og sulod, didto lang mi sa luyo nag-feed og tubig aron continuous and operation,(We had a hard time penetrating the area so we just went to the rear portion to supply water and ensure continuous operation.)” Segovia said.

 Fortunately, the fire was controlled within 10 minutes after fire fighting operations.

“Wala gyud siya katapon kay firewall man ang tapad nga balay unya ang pikas medyo distansiya ang sunod nga balay,(The blaze wasn’t able to affect other houses because of the firewall and the distance from the other houses.) ” Segovia said in a phone interview.

No one was reported injured. The blaze was totally extinguished at 10:25a.m.  (FREEMAN)