5 fires hit Mandaue

CEBU, Philippines - Two houses were totally burned and another was partially burned when a fire hit Barangay Cambaro, Mandaue City on Thursday evening.

This was the fifth fire to hit the city in a span of one week. A fire also hit Barangay Cubacub last January 31 while three more occurred within this week in Barangays Ibabao-Estancia, Centro and Cabancalan.

Firemen from the Mandaue City Fire Department identified the house that was totally burned as owned by Conchita Flores and Carlos Amistad. The partially burned house belonged to Romeo Satan.

SFO1 Cipriano Codilla Jr. revealed that at 11:19 on Thursday evening, they received a call from a resident of said barangay regarding a fire incident.

The Mandaue Fire Department immediately sent two fire trucks and was able to control it three minutes after. The fire was completely put off 10 minutes later.

Codilla said the fire originated at the house of Flores, which was made of light materials, and spread immediately to the houses of Amistad and Satan whose houses were also made of light materials.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation as Flores didn’t notice where the fire came from and what caused the fire.

Flores said she only noticed a thick smoke from the wall and ceiling and she and her children then immediately ran outside for safety.

She was not able save any of their belongings, adding that her neighbors were also in panic running for safety.  She said the fire spread immediately to the adjacent houses.

No one was reported injured or dead during the incident but had it not for the quick response of the firemen, more houses could have been engulfed by the fire as the area was congested with houses.

The damage was pegged at P80,000.

The first fire occurred at around 5:55 p.m. on Wednesday in Barangay Ibabao-Estancia wherein a lumber yard was affected.

The yard belonged to Tokoname Enterprises owned by Walberto Algar.

The fire was controlled in a span of five minutes but it took five hours for firefighters to completely put off the fire because of the woods stocked at the yard that facilitated the fire.

Fire Officer 1 John Mark Banares of the Mandaue City Fire Department said the fire started at the back portion of the lumber yard and quickly spread to the stocked lumber.

It was believed that the fire may have originated from the "hot works operation" as the workers were cutting steels. Damage of fire was pegged at P100,000.

Meanwhile, a house made of light materials was partially burned after the two grandchildren of the owner were playing with a lighter at around 1:35 p.m. yesterday in Barangay Centro.

The fire was controlled five minutes after.

Another fire also hit a junk storage of a business establishment in Sitio Pilit, Barangay Cabancalan still last Wednesday evening. The damage was estimated at P7,000. (FREEMAN)