Poor families wiped out in Bacolod fire - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Poor families wiped out in Bacolod fire
Survivors say flames spread too fast
By Carla Gomez
Inquirer Visayas
First Posted 18:33:00 11/02/2009

Filed Under: Fire

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines –- Jeepney driver Ruel Chavez thought his two sons would be having a safe sleep the other night, on the second floor of the dormitory where they had been staying in this city.

Little did he think that in a few hours, he would lose his sons BeeG, 6, and Novie, 12, in the early Monday fire that swept through the wooden building.

If he had any premonition of the tragedy, Chavez said he would have kept his children with him and his wife on the first floor of the boarding house where they sold coffee to augment their income.

BeeG and Novie were among the 16 people who perished in the 1:19 a.m. fire that razed the boarding house at Barangay (Village) 10, to the ground.

The fire, believed to have been caused by a lighted candle that toppled over, swiftly ate up the stairs, blocking off the exit of those on the second floor.

Chavez said he brought his two other children to safety and went back to try to rescue BeeG and Novie but he was met by huge flames and could only stand helplessly as he heard shouts for help.

A stunned Dionisio Niño, 46, a resident of Tugis village, Pontevedra, and a vendor of cellular phone chargers, wept as he identified the charred bodies of his wife Josephine, children Jovelyn, 14 and Roel, 13, and his grandchild Rosemarie, who would have turned 1 on Nov. 23.

Niño, who occupied a room on the second floor with his family, recalled waking up surrounded with flames. He jumped out of the building to call for help but could not go back to rescue his family because the fire had spread so fast.

As the fire raged, cries for help could be heard but rescuers could not get through a wall of flames, recalled firefighter FO3 Cornelio Silva of the Bacolod City Fire Station.

When the fire was put out at 4:08 a.m., firefighters dug through the rubble and found 16 charred bodies, including that of 11-month-old baby Rosemarie and that of a 70-year-old woman, said Silva.

All victims were regular occupants of the boarding house.

Aside from the dormitory, 58 other houses were destroyed and three others were damaged, Silva said.

Some 80 families were left homeless, City Social Welfare Officer Sally Abelarde said.

“This is a tragic day for Bacolod, this is something that has never happened before,” said Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who was at the scene of the fire as it raged.

The horror of the tragedy hit firemen and retrieving teams when they came upon six charred remains who appeared to be hugging each other, Leonardia said.

Some of victims had their hands stretched out, as if seeking for the help that never came.

The dead, some of whom were vendors in the nearby Burgos Market, were identified by surviving members of their families based on the location of their rooms in the burnt building.

The fire, which began from the boarding house at 1:19 a.m., was put under control at 2:40 a.m. and was put out at 4:08 a.m., Fire Chief Pamela Rojane Candido said.

Witness Josauro Atilan, 37, said a vendor who lived in the boarding house jumped out of the building shouting for help.

“We poured buckets of water to try to put out the fire but it spread fast through the wooden structure and we could not stop it,” he said.

The entrance and stairs of the building quickly went up in flames and the whole structure collapsed soon after, he said.

Aside from Novie and BeeG Chavez, and four from the Niño family, local authorities identified the other victims as janitor Junifer Demandar, 45, and his manicurist wife, Jenalyn, and their son Joshua, 10; Nica Amelda, 25; Eduarda Abajero, 70, and her son Napoleon Abajero, 40; fish vendor Joselito Cabajosa, 28, and his children Carl Joshua, 3, Analyn, 7, and Adah Pauline, 6.

Gloria Abrigo sustained burns on 27 percent of her body. The fire allegedly started from her area on the first floor of the boarding house, according to Silva.

But Silva said they were still confirming reports that the fire was caused by a lighted candle.

The building, owned by Margie Depakakibo, had a working electrical connection when the fire broke out.

Leonardia said survivors would be given food and stress debriefing by the social welfare offie.

The mayor also assured residents that the city government would do all it could to help the victims.

“We also call on the public to pray for the victims of the fire and to provide whatever assistance they can, too, as we did for the victims of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. It is time to say charity begins at home,” he said.

Leah Dolovico, 50, a casual employee at the Bacolod City Hall, said her whole house and all of her possessions, including her two pet dogs, were destroyed by the fire.

Three houses were already burnt down when the fire fighters came, she said.

According to Dolovico, the boarding house where the fire started was a fire hazard because there were so many people living in it.

Leonardia also raised doubt if the building had a mayor’s permit that would allow it to be operated as a boarding house.

The building owner, identified as Margie Depakakibo, could not be found.

Senator Richard Gordon, Philippine National Red Cross chairman, said he instructed the PNRC Bacolod chapter to immediately distribute relief assistance to the victims.