Cops, soldiers help residents put out fire at Samar school

San Juan de Buan town (outlined in red) in Samar (Image from Google Map)

ORMOC CITY, Leyte — The Filipino bayanihan spirit helped prevent a fire from spreading and gobbling up an entire public school in San Jose de Buan town, Samar.

Local residents, police officers, and soldiers worked together to put out the fire that hit the Grade II building of the San Jose de Buan Elementary School at the town proper on Tuesday morning.

The town has no fire department and is clustered with the fire station of Paranas town in Samar, which is about 35 km from San Jose de Buan.

The fire broke out in one of the three classrooms in the Grade II building at 9:45 a.m., said Senior Insp. Constantino C. Jabonete, San Jose de Buan police chief.

He said he believed that the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring of a florescent lamp since it started from the ceiling.

Residents, police officers, and Army soldiers of the Alpha and Bravo Companies of the 87th Infantry Battalion worked together to stop the fire from spreading.

When the fire was finally put out about 30 minutes after, two classrooms were destroyed. Another was damaged, but it could still be used.

Jabonete said that it was fortunate that there were no classes on Tuesday in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

He said that things might be different if there had been classes because they would have had to prioritize the safety of the pupils. /atm