During graduation day fire hits Talisay school

CEBU, Philippines - Eight elementary and high school classrooms were destroyed, while one other classroom was damaged by a fire yesterday afternoon at the Candulawan Elementary School in Talisay City.

SFO1 Jeffrey Tajanlangit of Talisay City Fire Station said the fire took place on the afternoon the graduation ceremony was scheduled, just after the commencement exercises earlier.

The graduation ceremony of the school went on yesterday afternoon as scheduled, after the firemen put out the fire.

He said that a person who helped take items from the school to safety was hurt, although they were not able to get the name of the victim.

The fire started at the ceiling of the classroom of the Grade Six replacement teacher, Mrs. Marivic Birot.

Two buildings were razed to the ground - one that housed the three classrooms for grade one, one for grade four and one for grade six; while the other building housed the classrooms of grades four, five and six.

Apart from that, two classrooms for the high school were also destroyed and one was damaged.

According to Tajanlangit, these buildings were old and made of light materials. Wind is also strong at the area, which is hilly.

Fire fighters received the alarm at around 12:50 afternoon. They controlled it 15 minutes later.

The damage was pegged at P500,000.

According to Tajanlangit they are still investigating the cause of the fire. (FREEMAN)