Electric fan causes fire in Calamba

CEBU, Philippines - An unattended electric fan allegedly caused the morning fire yesterday in Lucio Lopez Drive, Barangay Calamba, Cebu City.

 Senior Fire Officer 2 Roland delos Reyes said the fire started in the room of the nephew of Norma Villegas, one of the residents of the three-story house.

 Delos Reyes said they are verifying if the electric fan in the room of Jefferson Uy was the cause of fire since it was the only appliance in his room.

  Villegas said they noticed smoke coming from the room of her nephew, who was not in the house at that time.

 When their caretaker forcibly opened the door, the smoke immediately spread and followed by fire.

 "Ang among rooms naa sa taas.  Ang naa sa ubos amo nang business, buyer mi og scrap materials," she said.

No one was injured during the fire that lasted for 15 minutes. Damage of the incident was pegged at P200,000.

Meanwhile, after the fire in Sitio Daruhan Drive, San Roque, Talisay City on Thursday, affected families who lost their homes have been assured they can still build new homes at the same place.

San Roque Barangay Captain Elzevier Abraham, whose family owns the land where the 15 fire-struck houses were located, assured that they will let the affected families build back their houses for the mean time since they still don't have plans for the area.

Talisay Public Information Officer Hazel Sevellino said the each affected family will also be given P5,000 each.

"Pero kung naay naki-share sa usa ka balay, P2,500 ang ilang madawat,"

The city's Department of Social Welfare and Development, headed by Bebeth Solana, also started distributing meals to the families last Thursday afternoon and will last until Sunday.

The Social Welfare Development Office of the Cebu provincial government also distributed household items to the families.

"Kaldero, habol, musketero, banig, plato, baso, bowls, sardines, rice while from Talisay meals, financial assistance, used clothing," Solana said. (FREEMAN)