Fire burns down lawyer’s house

CEBU, Philippines - A fire broke out past 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning at Aguinaldo Street, Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City that razed to the ground the house of a lawyer.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Lowel Opolentisima said that they received the alarm at 11:42 yesterday morning.

Opolentisima said that the house belongs to Atty. Filemon Yongco.

He said that when firefighters reached Yongco's house, the fire was already huge and in minutes only the house was completely burned.

Opolentisima said that they declared the fire to be under control at 12:04 yesterday noon.

The fire was contained at the lawyer's house which was surrounded by firewall.

"Ang balay niya naa sa compound, gipatung-an og firewall nya sa luyo vacant lot sa atubangan dalan," he said.

The original structure was completely burned down while the annex was partially damaged.

"Naugdaw gyud ang balay pero ang extension partially damaged," he added.

Opolentisima said that nobody was in the house when the fire broke out since Yongco is not living there while the caretaker also just comes once in awhile.

Opolentisma estimated the damage to reach around P300, 000 and he is still conducting a thorough investigation what caused the fire. (FREEMAN)