TWO fires hit barangay Bulacao-Pardo within minutes early Wednesday morning forcing firefighters to seek assistance from neighboring fire departments.
Firefighters were extinguishing the fire that hit Kirshin Apparel building in Lower San Roque when they were called to respond to a fire alarm in St. Jude, Phase 1 around 5 o’clock in the morning.
Damaged in the Kirshen Apparel warehouse fire were textiles and equipment worth P25, 000, while the second fire that razed 14 houses destroyed about P250,000 worth of properties.
Christoy Lauron who lived at the back of the warehouse said that the building that caught fire has been used to store textile and machines for over 10 years already.
The second fire allegedly originated in the house owned by former police officer Jonathan Alcover according to Cebu City Fire Marshal Aderson Comar.
Comar said that since they were still finishing their work in the first fire and already low on water, they called on the Talisay and Mandaue Fire Stations to assist them in responding to the St. Jude fire.
The second fire reportedly originated from the house owned by Jonathan Alcover, a former police officer. It destroyed P250, 000 worth of properties.
Comar said they managed to control the second fire within seven minutes though most of the houses were made of light materials. Concrete houses and surrounding walls also helped to confine the fire, he said.
A brief drama ensued during the fire when police officers arrested Jonald Alcover, 22, for starting a commotion.
The younger Alcover who was drunk at the time, reportedly became unruly after his uncle accused him of causing the fires.
He was the last person seen inside the house before it reportedly burst into flames.
Fire investigators listed faulty electrical system as the cause of the first fire while they are not discounting arson as the cause of the second fire.
Wednesday morning’s conflagration was the sixth and seventh fire in Cebu City this March dubbed Fire Prevention Month. Correspondent Chito Aragon