Five fires in a day

As of this writing no less than five fire incidents hit Cebu City yesterday.

The first to be reported happened in Sitio Cabajar, Barangay Guadalupe. After that it was in Sitio Malipayon, Barangay Inayawan, where it was not so happy for residents who lost their homes.

Then in North View, Barangay Bacayan, a residential building also burned down. This was followed by a fire in Barangay Adlawon.

After all that another fire was reported in La Guardia, Barangay Lahug, although no damage to structures was reported as of this writing.

This is no longer considering the fire that hit San Juan Street, Barangay Sambag II, last Friday, where 21 houses were destroyed leaving 30 families homeless.

One or two fires a day isn’t so bad, but five? It’s almost ridiculous.

There is probably nothing more traumatic than losing a home to a fire. While disasters like floods and storms indeed do as much damage as a fire, a fire brings with it sights, sounds, and smells survivors are not likely to forget for a long time. We are talking about seeing the angry red hue of flames creeping closer to houses, the sounds of people crying, panicking, and evacuating whatever they can, and the slowly-intensifying smell of smoke.

Fire is also one problem that leads to others.

After the fire it isn’t really over yet, the affected area has to be rebuilt, or totally destroyed, then reblocked before being rebuilt. Then the homeless have to be sheltered, usually in public schools where the education of students will likely be impacted by them not being able to use classrooms in the meantime.

We don’t even have to mention the costs of feeding and providing for fire victims for a limited time.

Fires are a problem any sprawling metropolis must deal with, especially one like ours which didn’t really have much of urban planning during its infancy, and one where homes in different communities are built so close to each other. But the good news is that fires are also preventable. They don’t just happen spontaneously; they are the result of something that was done, wasn’t done, or wasn’t done properly.

With yesterday’s multiple fire incidents it seems more must be done to make our communities fire safe or fire resistant.