CEBU CITY—Property worth around P2 million went up in smoke in a dawn fire that struck this city on Monday.
The fire also displaced 144 people, mostly students of the nearby Southwestern University (SWU).
SFO3 Jimmy Layao of the city fire department said the fire broke out at 2:40 a.m. at a boarding house owned by Rosie Lambo Barrientos on Urgello Street, and spread to SWU. It destroyed at least six rooms of the Maria Guerrero Building of the SWU biology department.
Twenty houses were also destroyed.
Student Lorie Lucban, one of the boarders, recalled that she heard an explosion from the electric fan mounted on the wall, and saw flames eating up the wall and ceiling.
Layao said the burning neighborhood area was very congested, but firemen passing through access roads were able to contain the fire after 35 minutes.