‘Be your own bumbero’

MANILA, Philippines — The dry spell that worsened a fire in Valenzuela City on Friday should be a lesson for residents to be their own firefighters this Fire Prevention Month, the city fire marshall said yesterday.

“Like what I always say to the people: Maging bumbero sa sariling tahanan (Be a firefighter for your own house),” city fire marshall Superintendent Rodrigo Reyes told The STAR. 

Reyes said the dry spell worsened the fire that started at the second floor of a house and spread to other structures, leaving almost 100 families homeless at Sitio Libis along Gen. T. de Leon.

Reyes said residents can be their own firefighters by not playing with matchsticks or any flammable material and storing water to be used in case of fire.

The fire started around 10 a.m. Friday and quickly reached fifth alarm. It was put out at around noon.

In a visit by The STAR yesterday at the Antonio Serapio Elementary School, where 95 families took refuge, the fire victims said the dry weather worsened the fire that razed their community just under a bridge in Sitio Libis on Friday morning.

Residents tagged the house of Arsenia Annas as the origin of the fire. Annas denied allegations that a water heater left unattended caused the fire.

She said when the fire struck the second floor of her house, all she had in mind was to rescue her 52-year-old nephew Enrico, a polio survivor. She lost all her belongings in the fire.

Meanwhile, a plastics company’s warehouse was destroyed in a fire that raged for almost five hours and reached fifth alarm in Sta. Quiteria, Caloocan on Friday night.

Caloocan fire marshall Superintendent Stephen Requina yesterday said the fire that gutted the warehouse of Hahsy Industries Inc. destroyed P17.5 million worth of property before it was put out by midnight.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Requina said.