30 houses went up in smoke: Lorega fire kills 1
CEBU, Philippines — It was a tragic ending for a 52-year-old man whose paralysis prevented him from fleeing the fire that razed 30 houses in sitio San Miguel, Barangay Lorega in Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
The man was identified as Amado Maglinte.
His nephew, Albert Angga, who lived with him at the house, could only shed tears for failing to save his uncle.
Angga said he could not carry Maglinte out because the man was heavy so he told him he would get some help. However, when he returned, the fire had already engulfed their house and going in would mean the possibility of getting trapped inside.
Cebu City Fire Marshall Noel Nelson Ababon said the fire started from the house of Gaudencia Recolcol but the cause is yet to be determined.
The fire department received the alarm at nearly 3 p.m. and was able to control the fire about 20 minutes later. It was raised to third alarm. Damaged is pegged at P600,000.
One of the survivors, a certain Jay-r Mata, said he was tending to his store when he noticed that it was getting hot. It was then that he saw fire coming out of a room at the back of his store.
He denied, though, that the fire started at his store.
Another survivor, Dodong Maglinte, said it was the first time that a fire struck the area, and that the sitio was not affected by the fire that hit the barangay several years back.
Nagiel Bañacia, head of Cebu City’s disaster response team, said it was, to a certain extent, fortunate that the fire erupted right beside the road so firefighters were able to respond and control it easily.
He said more houses and lives would have been affected had it erupted in an interior area that is difficult to access.
He said it also helped that the area had been re-blocked, which was why roads are now wider and access is easier. — JMO (FREEMAN)
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