144 families displaced in dawn fire

CEBU - The Cebu City Government will double its aid of P10,000 for each family that suffered from a fire, starting with the 144 families whose houses a fire razed Tuesday, October 25, in Barangay Suba.

An initial report listed 66 houses lost, with 144 families or 542 persons left homeless, but a City official expects the numbers to go up.

Firefighters still have to confirm what started the fire that hit Sitio Kagutungan in Barangay Suba, but one of the early theories is that it began with a candle that had been left unattended.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) received the call for help at 4:20 a.m.

It allegedly began in the home of Edwin Bacalso, whose 11-year-old son was alone at the time. Edwin is in jail and the boy’s mother was reportedly away.

According to FO3 An- tonio Gonzales, a candle had been left on top of a plastic monobloc chair until it melted.

The fire damaged an estimated P500,000 worth of property. Baby saved Jade Bacalso, 34, one of the residents, said that when she woke up, the fire had already consumed most of their house, which was made of light materials.

“It was already too hot. We jumped through the window because the fire was everywhere,” she said.

Julian Baybay, 17, saved her two-month-old baby by tossing the child out of the burning house and into her arms, Jade added. “Wala gyud tawon mi nahipos kay kadlawon man gud (We failed to save anything because it was so early),” another resident said.

Firefighters placed the flames under control 30 minutes after the alarm, meaning the fire was no longer spreading to other parts of the neighborhood. They put it out at 9:06 a.m.