FILE
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — Thirty seven families lost their homes after a fire on Wednesday destroyed 15 houses and damaged three more in this city, the local fire department said Thursday, March 9.
The fire at 1:49 p.m. hit Barangays Mabuhay, Pagkakaisa, and Masigla.
City fire marshal F/Supt. Nilo Caabay said the fire razed 11 houses in Barangay Mabuhay, destroyed another and partially damaged one in Masigla, and burned three and damaged two houses in Pagkakaisa.
The fire also left 37 families or 125 individuals, which included five boarders/sharers, homeless – 25 in Mabuhay, five families in Pagkakaisa and seven families in Masigla.
Caabay also stated that while they were able to respond immediately to the incident, the fire rapidly spread as most of the houses were of light materials, plus the weather was hot and windy.
He said they received the first alarm at 12:49 p.m. and the first responder arrived four minutes later.
“But the good thing is that we have a lot of volunteer auxiliary forces who came to help,” he added.
The fire was declared under control at 2:30 p.m. and fire out at 4:40 p.m., FO1 Mark Llacuna said.
Llacuna added that the damage was about P630,000.
“That’s our assessment based on standard operating procedure per square meter,” Llacuna said.
He said investigators would go back to the area Thursday to determine the cause and origin of the fire. Residents, however, said the fire started in one of the houses in Barangay Mabuhay.
He also said that while the incident was declared fire out late in the afternoon, firefightersl stayed until 2 a.m. Thursday, as requested by residents in fear that the fire might break out again.
The incident was the fourth recorded by the City Fire Department for March and 12 overall since January.
A report from the City Social Welfare and Development Office said the most affected families were now temporarily staying with their relatives, while two families at the barangay action center in Mabuhay and three families in Pagkakaisa barangay hall.
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