Warehouse fire in Lapu leaves P400T damage

CEBU, Philippines - A fire damaged a warehouse of the General Milling Corporation Wednesday evening in Barangay Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City.

The Lapu-Lapu City Fire Department received the alarm at 11:35 p.m. and the fire was controlled 20 minutes after.

Senior Fire Officer 4 Rodrigo Ygot said it took until 4 a.m. before firefighters could declare "fire out" because the fire started at the ceiling of the warehouse's mezzanine floor wherein the company's legal documents were being stocked.

"Pwerti namong kaykay sa mga papel ug gipasiritan og duol  kay magbalik-balik man gud ang kayo," Ygot said.

Damage of fire was pegged at P400,000.

Ygot said they still needed to conduct further investigation because when they arrived in the area, the fire had already amplified.

Meanwhile, one of the fire victims who sought temporary shelter at Tingub National High School after another fire hit Sitio Tondo of Barangay Tingub before Wednesday dawn in Mandaue City died inside the evacuation center.

Tingub Barangay Captain Randy Pareja confirmed that Divina Patrolla died inside evacuation center at 9:15 a.m. yesterday.

She was rushed to the Mandaue City Hospital but her pulse was no longer beating.

Pareja said during the fire, Patrolla just got discharged from the hospital as she was suffering from diabetes.

He said it was neighbors who rescued her during the fire and brought her to the evacuation center because his husband, a taxi driver, rarely goes home. They also have yet to inform him of his wife's death.

In that fire, 30 houses were totally burned affecting a total of over 100 families. (FREEMAN)