At least three houses were razed in a fire that hit barangay Looc, Mandaue City, yesterday afternoon.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, said FO3 Cipriano Codilla, fire investigator of the Mandaue City Fire Department .
The fire reportedly started at the house of Milagros Baclohan on Catalina Street, said Codilla.
The fire also destroyed houses owned by Nonela Antigua and Adelaida Antigua.
An office of the Adam Jennie’s Christian Center for Special Children was likewise damaged by the fire.
Lee Jennie, the school’s American administrator, said the school rented the ground floor of Nonela’s house where important documents were stored.
Damage was pegged at P400,000. No one was reported hurt in the fire.
Firefighters controlled the fire 24 minutes after it was reported at 2:06 p.m.
The fire’s alarm was raised by the Mandaue City Fire Department to Task Force Alpha due to their lack of firetrucks.
Only one firetruck from Mandaue was able to repond since the remaining trucks were under repair.
Fire units from Lilo-an town, Lapu-Lapu City Fire Department and Cebu City responded to the alarm. Firetrucks from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation and Cebu Filipino-Chinese Fire Volunteer also rushed to the fire site.
Vanessa Amlon, an officer of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, said she was resting in the room of her boarding house when he heard a commotion outside the neighborhood.
The boarding house is owned by Milagros.
Amlon said she locked the door thinking that a criminal entered their boarding house when thick smoke started to envelope her room.
Amlon she ran outside her room without saving any belongings.
Another boarder, Leny Baroy, 30, a native of Sagay, Negros Occidental, said she also failed to save any belongings after she rushed outside her room on seeing the thick smoke.