P4.5M in property lost after fire hits hardware

An estimated P4.5 million worth of hardware and other goods of a store were lost in a 55-minute fire that gutted a three-story building on F. Gonzales and MC Briones Streets in barangay Ermita yesterday dawn.

City fire marshal, Supt. Esmael Codilla, said the fire started at the ground floor where the Ho Tong Hardware of Jaime Sy was located. No one was reported hurt, he said.

It was about 12:30 a.m. already and witnesses said the fire was already moving into the upper levels of the building.

A street vendor, Godofredo Tangpos, told Balitang Bisdak in an interview that he was living near the area and saw, by peeping through a gape, the fire inside the building’s ground floor.

Seven minutes after, Codilla raised the fire alarm to general alarm because of the highly combustible materials inside the hardware store.

Codilla told The Freeman that his thrust then was to prevent a repeat of the Lincoln Street fire last March that almost wiped out the whole block of the Carbon market area.

“Ang ako ato duna tay support na tubig aron di makakatap kay delikado man nga maapil ang whole block,” Codilla said.

The Mandaue, Lapulapu, Talisay and Consolacion fire departments and some fire volunteers responded and helped Cebu City firemen put off the fire.

Fire investigator, SFO3 Felix Romero, said the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. — Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE