300 homeless after fire in Cebu City

CEBU CITY–At least 300 persons were left homeless late Wednesday afternoon after a fire that hit an urban poor community in Sitio Kawayan in Barangay (village) Poblacion Pardo in Cebu City.

Nobody was hurt in the fire that damaged at least P300,000 worth of houses mostly made of light materials.

City fire marshal Romeo Bongabong said the fire was reported at 4:22 p.m. and destroyed at least 50 shanties.

Bongabong said they had yet to determine the cause of fire, which took firefighters 41 minutes to control because of problems on access roads.

The fire site is located at least 500 meters away from the barangay road and is on an elevated area located below the Alta Vista Golf Course.

Pardo barangay captain Althea Lim said fire victims were accommodated at the barangay gym and on an open court in the nearby Sitio Sagrada.

Personnel from the city’s Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) visited the fire site Wednesday night to give out food packs to the victims.