2 students hurt in fire BFP looks into “illegal” boarding houses

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – An inspection and inventory of boarding houses that have no mayor’s permits and fire safety certificates is now being undertaken by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in this city, following a fire incident that left two students injured and two houses razed.

Injured in the fire at Barangay Daro in this city Tuesday morning were Rose Mae Buscato, 18, from Santander, Cebu, a Mass Communications student of Negros Oriental State University, and a 16-year-old male IT student, from Mabinay town of Negros Oriental. Both suffered burns in their bodies and were rushed to the hospital.

City Fire Department operations chief, SFO3 Michaelangelo Eran, told The Freeman that the victims were boarders of Evelyn Taganile, whose house was converted into a lodging place for students.

“From Taganile’s house, the fire spread to the neighboring boarding house, owned by Cipriano Villaflores,” Eran said. No one was however injured among 13 student-boarders of Villaflores.

The fire was contained around 3:45 a.m. and firefighters declared a fire out by 5 a.m. Investigators said an estimated P400,000 in property was lost in the fire that started at the ceiling of the ground floor of Taganile’s house.

Chief Insp. Arnulfo Sayson, BFP chief, said he believed both houses do not have a mayor’s permit to operate as boarding houses, although he said he will have to verify this with the fire department’s master list of registered boarding houses in the city.

Sayson said there could be many boarding houses here that have been operating without licenses, and Tuesday’s fire was an eye opener for the city government and the BFP for the need to revive a task force that would inspect boarding houses. BFP records showed that 94 boarding houses have business permits, he said.

Later in the evening of the same day, another fire incident was reported at a hardware store in Sibulan town.

Investigator SFO2 Quintino Dumala Jr. told The Freeman that the fire started as a small spark from an electric insect repellent near the store’s cashier desk. The fire incurred an estimated P200,000 in loses to property, Dumala said, adding that no one was injured in the incident. —(FREEMAN)