SunStar Cebu, Dec. 01, 2005
NOVEMBER ended with the ninth fire to hit Cebu City within the month, after a factory was gutted in Upper Sunrise Village in Barangay Pardo yesterday.
At least P5 million worth of property was destroyed, the biggest loss in terms of property damage among the fires that hit Cebu City last month.
The building of Five Star Export International and the furniture that were ready for shipment to Europe and the Middle East were reduced to ashes and debris.
Fire investigators are checking if the blaze was caused by faulty electrical wiring, disgruntled employees or flammable materials kept in storage.
Engineer Roy Masecampo, the factory proprietor, pegged the damage at P50 million but Cebu City Fire Marshal Ysmael Codilla initially placed it at P5 million only.
Since Nov. 5 when the first fire of the month occurred, a total of P11,220,000 worth of property has been destroyed.
The Cebu City Fire Department received the call for assistance at 1:05 a.m.
The blaze was placed under control 18 minutes later.
An adjacent four-door apartment owned by Maritime Capt. Norie Presto was also damaged.
Initial information received by Codilla said the fire may have been caused by an electrical short circuit.
Codilla, however, said the fire department is also verifying if disgruntled employees may have started the fire, or flammable liquids.
Of the nine fires in the city, the Nov. 5 blaze in Barangay Pahina Central that hit three sitios caused P3.2 million worth of damage.
An unattended kerosene lamp 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.
Last Nov. 12, shortly before noon, a 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 started the fire.
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.
Last Nov. 16, nine houses in Barangay Apas were also razed.
Five days later, two fires were reported.
The first occurred at 11:08 a.m. and damaged part of mv Samar Star owned by Maypalad Shipping Lines. The vessel was docked at Pier 2.
The other incident in Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Mabolo was tapped at 1:21 p.m. About P600,000 worth of properties were lost.
