AROUND 100 families lost their homes after a mid-afternoon blaze hit 50 houses in Brgy. Sambag 2 in Cebu City Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
Investigators of the Cebu City Fire Department (CCFD) said the fire that hit Sitio Kawayan at around 2:53 p.m. began in the house of a certain Natalia Fernandez.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Novo Erana of the CCFD told Superbalita Cebu that Fernandez’s son, Rommy, told them that something exploded in one of his mother’s rooms, which was reportedly rented.
The renter of the room in question was reportedly at work when the fire occurred.
Following the explosion, the fire spread quickly to other houses as majority of them were made of a mix of light and heavy materials.
The fire was eventually placed under control at around 3:57 p.m.
The fire caused an estimated P1.5 million worth of damage. No one was hurt during the incident.
Erana said firefighters had difficulty dousing the fire due to narrow paths between the burning houses.
He also said some residents refused to heed their requests to stay in the side so they could focus their efforts on dousing the fire.
“Since our firetrucks can’t penetrate some of the deeper sections of the area, we couldn’t stop some houses from burning down. Even some bystanders were not helpful,” Erana added. (GPL / JKV)