CEBU CITY -- Children playing with matches may have set off a fire that burned down nine houses in Sitio Sun-Ok, Barangay Apas, Cebu City shortly before noon Wednesday.

The fire that broke out at 11:23 a.m. and was raised to third alarm destroyed an estimated P420,000 worth of property, SFO1 Felix Romero, fire investigator said.

Wednesday's fire was the fifth to hit Cebu City this month, with more than P5 million worth of property reduced to ashes.

Initial investigation by Romero showed that the fire started in the house of retired Philippine Army man George Sinco located a few meters from the Apas Elementary School and two blocks from the gate of the Central Command (Centcom) headquarters.

Romero said he is yet to determine the cause of the fire but several residents told him that they had seen children playing with matches in the area.

Retired military men who once served Centcom reportedly owned most of the razed houses. It took firefighters 42 minutes to put off the fire.

Apart from the fire trucks from the Bureau of Fire Protection in Cebu City, the Filipino-Chinese Volunteers Fire Brigade also responded.

Narrow pathways forced firefighters to connect hoses to reach the interior portion in Sitio Sun-ok.

Apas Barangay Captain Clemente Rosales told reporters Wednesday that the fire victims will be given temporary shelter at the Apas Elementary School.

Of the five fires that occurred in the city, the Nov. 5 blaze in Barangay Pahina Central that hit three sitios has so far caused the biggest destruction, which the fire department estimated to reach P3.2 million.

An unattended kerosene lamp has been reported to have caused the fire.

A day earlier, a fire in Sitio Upper Cogon, Barangay Labangon devoured 20 houses and destroyed about P400,000 worth of property.

Shortly before noon last Saturday, fire broke out and spread to three sitios in Barangay Tinago and one sitio in the adjacent Barangay Tejero.

Fire investigators pegged the destroyed properties at P850,000.

Illegal electrical wiretapping was blamed.

Past 10 p.m. of the same date, two houses of Tisa Barangay Captain Eddie Cabulao as well as his neighbor's house also got burned.

Cabulao placed the damage to his property alone at P700,000.