Fire gobbles up 34 houses

ILOILO CITY — A fire struck at 7:40 p.m. Monday and ate up 34 houses at Barangays Boulevard and West Habog-Habog in Molo district of Iloilo City.

Chief Inspector Christopher Regencia, marshal of the Bureau of Fire Protection-Iloilo City, said 30 houses were razed while three were partially burned.

Most of these houses were situated in Boulevard, with 28 gutted down and three partially damaged. At West HabogHabog, there were only two houses razed and one partially burned.

Regencia said they received the fire call at 7:23 p.m. “We immediately responded but when we arrived, the fire already engulfed four houses,” he said, adding that the conflagration quickly spread to adjacent houses, all of light materials.

Fire trucks had a hard time penetrating the scene because of narrow alleys, he said. Only one fire truck was able to settle near the fire scene and other responders had to position their trucks at a distance. The scene was also slightly sloping and muddy when fire personnel and volunteers responded.

The fire was put under control at 9:15 p.m. while fire out was at 22:19 p.m., said Regencia, and probers pegged the damage at P1.2 million.

Some claimed that an abandoned candle caused the fire, but a neighbor claimed to have seen the fire originating from the ceiling of Buenavista’s house.

Fire probers recovered cut pieces of electrical wiring that could indicate that the cause of fire was electrical in nature. “It could be due to overload or short circuit of electrical wiring,” he added.