Fire injures Cauayan City police chief, guts P700,000 in properties

CITY OF CAUAYAN, Isabela–Fire investigators have recorded P700,000 in property damage by a fire that gutted the office of this city’s police chief on Tuesday.

The fire broke out at 10:35 p.m. at the city police station in Tagaran village.

READ: 92-year-old woman killed in Isabela house fire

Police Lt. Col. Avelino Canceran Jr., Cauayan City police chief, has been recuperating at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center due to burn injuries on his hands, head, and neck, police investigators said.

“He is still confined at the hospital there,” Police Colonel Manuel Bringas, Isabela provincial director, said.

Canceran was reported to be conscious when pulled from the fire, which was sparked by an electrical short circuit that started inside the building near the outlet at his office window, and was put out at 11:19 in the evening on June 2. 

He was first brought to a private hospital and was later transferred to CVMC in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

Probers said rainwater from heavy rainfall may have seeped inside the outlet, causing the short circuit./coa