Five houses were razed while two others were damaged in an early morning fire in barangay Poblacion, Ginatilan town, southwest Cebu yesterday.
Residents lamented that firefighters weren’t able to move quickly enough because it took time for them to connect their hoses.
“My house could have been saved if they had sprayed water immediately,” said Anastacia Cabanyog in Cebuano.
While firefighters adjusted their hoses, town folk used pails of water to douse the flames.
The fire started at the house of Climente Caca, who was not home when flames broke out at 8:30 a.m. based on investigation by SFO1 Molilito Lecena, fire marshall of Malabuyoc.
A defective electric socket in the living room may have caused the fire.
“The wire of the socket where we plugged our TV was defective. I just tied it with electrical tape,” said Caca, who suffered first degree burns in the body when he tried to save some belongings from his burning house.
Firefighters from other southern towns of Malabuyoc, Alegria, Badian, Oslob, Moalboal and Santander towns responded to the alarm.
A chapel in the barangay was used as temporary shelter by fire victims.
Ginatilan Mayor Antonio Singco acknowledged there were shortcomings in the response to the emergency, including a full-time firefighting team.
He said the town’s fire truck had enough water but the hoses had to be connected first.
The mayor said the fire spread quickly since houses in the area were made of light materials.
“We have a fire truck which is operated by municipal government workers. We can’t afford to hire a fireman who could work on 24-hour basis,” said Singco./CORRESPONDENT CARINE M. ASUTILLA