Fire destroys building, 4 houses, 4 vehicles in Cebu town
CEBU CITY—A fire destroyed on Saturday a one-story commercial building, four houses and four vehicles in Catmon town, about 57 km north of here.
FO1 Ronald Tellidua, investigator of the fire station in nearby Carmen town, said the fire broke out from the general merchandise store of Ruth Marie Fruta in Sitio Katambisan, Barangay Corazon, in Catmon about 2:20 a.m.
The fire spread to the entire building, eating up four other stores owned by Rene Colinares, Victor Nuñeza, Mona Climaco and Rosalinda Duray.
Four vehicles—a Toyota Avanza, a multicab van, a tricycle and a motorcycle—that were parked at the back of the commercial building were also destroyed.
Because of the strong wind, the fire spread to the nearby houses on the other side of the road. Four houses were destroyed. These were owned by Peter Molejon, Rogelio Pontillas, Nicolas Fruta and Rosario Rule.
The fire also damaged four other houses owned by Florante Rule, Jose Villanueva, Apolinaria Orio and Renagen Matos.
The fire was put under control at 3:10 a.m. and put out about two hours later.
Based on their investigation, Tellidua said the fire might have been caused by electrical misuse after they inspected the store and found substandard materials used in the electrical connection.
Tellidua said the Carmen fire station has jurisdiction over Catmon because the municipality had no fire station of its own.
But Carmen is 18 km away from Catmon. When the fire broke out on Saturday, it took the Carmen firetrucks a few more minutes to get to the scene.
When the Carmen firetrucks arrived, the firetrucks from Sogod town were already in the area.
