Fire kills dogs, razes antiques

CEBU, Philippines - A fire hit a storage room and killed two dogs in Gold Street, Riva Ridge Subdivision in Barangay Tisa late morning yesterday.

The fire damaged the back part of the two-story house owned by Pamela Cañete and razed the nearby warehouse where antique items worth some P150,000 were stored, said Senior Fire Officer 2 Daniel Relatado, Jr.

No person was hurt, but Cañete’s dogs, which were of local and Dachshund breed, died after these were trapped in a cage placed near the storage room.

The Cebu City Fire Department received the alarm at 11:45 am and responding firemen were able to control the fire by noon.

Cañete’s daughter, Prim, 28, was resting in her room at the second floor when the fire broke out.

“Nakadungog ko og paka-paka. Pagtan-aw nako sa luyo, aso na (I hear crackling sounds… when I looked at the back of the house, I saw smoke),” Prim said.

She then rushed outside, drove the car out of the compound, and created noise by sounding the car’s horn repeatedly.

Relatado said they did not have a hard time controlling the fire since the burning structure was easily accessible. The fire was raised to the first alarm.

As of yesterday afternoon, firemen were still overhauling the warehouse razed, anticipating the fire to rekindle because of the antique wood, Relatado said.

The fire investigator said the antiques were made of Molave wood, locally known as Tugas, the embers of which take a long time to die down.

“Posible pa mukayo kay naa pa’y baga (Fire may rekindle because of the flames),” he said.

Damage was estimated at P150,000, but Prim estimated the damage to their business at about P1 million.

The fire can be traceable to faulty wirings, considering the oldness of the storage room, Relatado said.  (FREEMAN)