250 HOUSES DESTROYED BY FIRE IN CEBU

A FIRE destroyed about 250 houses in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City in Cebu on Tuesday evening.

Fire Officer 1 (FO1) Dio Saint Tomboc of the Mandaue City Fire Station said the fire started at 11:46 p.m. on the second floor of the house of Reynaldo Devilleres in Sitio Paradise, A. Cabahug Street.

Tomboc said that the fire scene is located under the First Cebu-Mactan Bridge and said that the houses in the area were made of light materials.

“It was difficult for the firefighters to penetrate due to the narrow roads,” Tomboc said in Cebuano.

Damage to property was estimated at P1,250,000 but the cause of fire is still under investigation, Tomboc said.

The blaze reached the 4th alarm at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, was under control at 2:12 a.m., and declared out at 2:38 a.m.

“Twenty-seven fire trucks had to be on the ground during the incident,” Tomboc told The Manila Times.

Devilleres sustained second-degree burns, while FO1 Freyje Kent Puno and Alejandro Cerino sustained first-degree burns during the incident. They were immediately treated by the emergency response team.

Meanwhile, the affected families are staying inside the Mandaue City Central School and the village gym, which served as their temporary evacuation center. No casualties were reported.