Cebu City blaze hits heavily populated community
CEBU CITY—Heavy congestion was felt on roads in the southern part of Cebu City before noontime today after a fire broke out in a thickly populated area of Barangay Basak.
The fire affected at least 60 structures made of light materials from Sitios Ulap, Laguna and Bamboo.
City fire Marshal Rogelio Bongabong said the fire broke out in Sitio Bamboo about 10 a.m. but they were still investigating its cause.
Fire fighters were looking at reports of unattended cooking and children playing with fire which could have caused the flame.
No one was reported injured during the fire but it left about a hundred persons homeless.
Acting Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella said limited access made it difficult for firefighters to put out the fire which last almost one hour.
Damage caused by the fire was pegged at P600,000.
Labella has directed the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) to prepare lunch and dinner for fire victims who were accommodated at nearby Don Vicente Rama National High School and the Barangay Basak gym.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is on an official business trip to Japan.
Labella said the fire site would have to be reblocked to open new and widen existing access roads in the area before fire victims would be allowed to reconstruct their burned structures.
The Basak fire is the fourth and biggest fire that city fire fighters responded to this month. Other alarms included grass fires.
The fire was controlled at 11:05 am. It was placed under Task Force Alpha.
Bongabong said the presence of fire hydrants helped them put out the fire, but they were faced with problems on the access road. Some of the fire trucks were positioned inside the University of San Jose–Recoletos Basak campus. Sitio Bamboo is located outside of the university’s fire wall.
