Duljo blaze
Fire left 65 families, around 290 persons, homeless; no injury was reported
Acting Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella assures residents that they can rebuild; that mayor’s policy is that no one should be displaced because of fire
AT least 45 houses were destroyed when a fire hit Sitio Micabaja, Barangay Duljo Fatima, Cebu City late yesterday afternoon.
The Cebu City Fire Department received the alarm around 5:02 p.m. and said it was put out 18 minutes after, said SFO1 Edwin Handayan.
No one was injured, but the blaze left 65 families, or about 290 individuals, homeless, according to the report of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC).
Among the reported reasons that caused the fire was a butane canister that exploded, but Handayan said they are yet to verify it.
“Under investigation pa ang cause. Lain-lain man ang testimony gud,” said the officer, in an interview.
The blaze was raised to second alarm.
The fire damaged an estimate of P400,000 worth of properties, said Handayan.
Initial investigation showed that the fire started in a house owned by a certain Noni Semontesa
Handayan said they had a hard time putting off the fire because of the narrow roads in the area, prompting them to just connect the hoses from other fire trucks who responded to the alarm.
Official figures
City Hall’s Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) Chief Ester Concha said as of 8 p.m. last night they were yet to determine the number of affected families or individuals since they are still doing assessment and verification.
The fire bureau also has no estimates as to how many were affected.
As practiced by the DSWS in previous fires, Concha said they will be providing free meals for three days to the fire victims, while cash assistance will be given—P10,000 for those whose house were destroyed and P5,000 for houses that have been damaged.
As to when it will be released, Concha said they don’t know yet. The City will also be giving housing materials to them.
At present, the fire victims are being housed temporarily at the sports complex of Duljo Fatima, but they will eventually be transferred to the San Nicolas Elementary School, said Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella.
Rebuilding
Labella, in a separate interview, assured the fire vic- tims yesterday that they can rebuild their homes once the fire site will be cleared.
Some of them were worried, he said, since the property is reportedly owned by Hospicio de San Jose.
“I made it clear to them nga policy na sa administration ni Mayor Mike (Rama) nga wala gyuy ma- dislocated by reason of fire,” he said.
Although they are hit by fire, Labella said the consolation now is that no one got injured or died from the incident.
After the assessment conducted by the DSWS, Labella said the City will determine today whether or not there is a need to re-block the fire site.
Every after fire, the City usually re-blocks the firestricken area in order to establish bigger roads that will allow vehicles such as fire trucks to pass in times of emergencies.