More than 100 families lose homes in Cagayan de Oro fire

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – More than a hundred families lost their homes when a fire engulfed an urban community in Barangay 17 here early Friday morning, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Dennis Dalis said the fire, which started at the two-story house of a certain Burias, was reported to the bureau at about 12:18 a.m. Fire engines were dispatched to the area and “fire out” was declared at 4:15 a.m., about four hours later.

Dalis said one person died of cardiac arrest at the height of the fire that razed some P5 million in properties.

“The victim had cardiac arrest due perhaps to panic when the fire started,” Dalis said in a telephone interview.

A soldier-volunteer, whom the BFP identified as Stevenson Acaylar, was injured as he tried to help in the rescue efforts, Dalis said.

“We are still investigating what really happened,” he said.

Barangay 17 chair Goldmar Ebabacol said the fire survivors were staying at present under the Marcos Bridge as their temporary shelter.

The City Social Welfare and Development Office has distributed relief assistance in the form of packed food items, such as rice and canned goods, to the displaced families./rga

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