Over 300 families lose homes in 4 crowded sitios; access road too narrow for firefighters to enter

At least 153 houses were destroyed in a midafternoon fire that struck barangay Luz, a crowded urban poor community next to the upscale Cebu Business Park.

By nightfall, more than 300 families were homeless and a state of calamity was declared in four sitios—Sto. Niño 1, Lubi, Abellana and City Central.

Tripona Salonoy, a 62-year-old laundrywoman, wept by the road.

The widow said she wasn’t able to save any of her belongings because her first priority was to secure her five grandchildren.

“Asa naman mi puyo? (Where do we live now?),” she said, sobbing.

Evacuees sought shelter in the Barrio Luz Elementary School grounds.

Fire trucks were unable to enter sitio Sto. Niño where the fire started, hampered by narrow passageways. Families scrambling to save appliances, clothes and other personal effects added to the chaos.

“We had to connect five water hoses before we could reach the interior portion,” said FO2 Emiliano Dano of the Cebu City Fire Department.

“The access road was useless because that was the one hit by fire,” said Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera, former barangay Luz captain.

She said the four sitios have been declared in a state of calamity by barangay officials, which would trigger the release of emergency aid.

Barangay Luz, which has a population of 20,000 in 16 sitios, has two main access roads—Cabantan Street and a small street near the barangay hall in sitio Sto. Niño. Many of the burned structures were boardinghouses of employees of malls and offices nearby.

Cabrera said several affected households were beneficiaries of Provincial Ordinance 93-1 or occupied city-owned lots.

No one was reported killed or seriously injured.

The fire was tapped at 3:13 p.m., shortly after the live taping of a segment of “Eat Bulaga” of GMA network was held near Cabantan Street.

The fire started in the wooden two-story house of Carmen Villegas in sitio Sto. Niño, according to barangay Luz captain Rian Tante.

Tante said there was loose talk in the neighborhood that someone in the house was cooking and forgot about it after going to watch the taping.

Large soundspeakers for the TV show blocking the way in Cabantan Street had to be removed so that fire trucks could enter, but the vehicles could only reach as far as the small cemetery in the sitio.

Electrical misuse and untended cooking fires are the most common sources of fire according to the Cebu City Fire Department in its annual report last year.

“Road widening is needed,” said Supt. Ismael Codilla, head of the Cebu Provincial Fire Department.

He said lack of wide access roads in dense communities is a “common” problem dur ing firefighting operations in the city.

“The road is too narrow, it’s congested with people, and there’s traffic on top of that,” said Cebu City Fire Marshal Aderson Comar.

A portion of Archbishop Reyes Avenue outside the neighborhood was closed to traffic at the height of the fire. This caused congestion in rush-hour traffic in Mabolo and Banilad.

Firetrucks were called in from all parts of Metro Cebu to help in the operation coded as “Task Force Alpha.”

It took two hours to control the blaze. Flames spread quickly through houses made of light materials as wind directions changed on an overcast day.

Help came from 17 barangays in Cebu City, 7 fire trucks from the Cebu City Fire Department, and fire trucks from Talisay City, Mandaue City, Consolacion and Liloan towns, Lapu-Lapu City, airport, the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade and the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF).

Some units, like the fire trucks of Barrio Luz and Consolacion ran out of water.

The barangay captain, Tante, supervised residents who rushed about bringing their belongings to safety in the covered basketball court and Barrio Luz Elementary School. All rooms were used as temporary shelters.

Emergency meals were distributed by the city’s social welfare office and barangay personnel.

June Canonoy, 48, said he had just finished watching the “Eat Bulaga” taping in sitio Kalinaw and was walking home to sitio Sto. Niño 1 around 3 p.m. when his neighbors shouted about the fire.

He ran to look for his three children who were also out watching the TV show taping.

Canonoy, who grew up in Barrio Luz, said he was able to save the family’s TV set and a few clothes. He lost his house and a sari-sari store.

Two grandmothers stood barefoot as they watched smoke billow from their houses.

Seamstress Jenny Escala, 70, cut her toenail while trying to save her sewing machines.

Escala, a single mother, said her son managed to save two sewing machines but a third high-speed unit was destroyed.

Elvie Patigna, 49, a pharmacist, was praying by the roadside, carrying an image of the Sto. Niño and the Virgin Mary. The small pharmacy she’s been renting for 12 years was partly damaged.

She said she was thankful that all her botica products were spared from the fire. She said she was praying that other households would be spared as well.

Venerando Bilda, a 56-year-old factory worker, lost his house.

“Kuwang ug bombero. Gamay ra ta ug bombero.” (We lack firemen.) With Jhunnex Napallacan and Chito Aragon