Cotabato fire victims get aid, fire probe continues
Local News • 02:59 AM Tue Aug 22, 2017
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By:
Edwin Fernandez
Photo courtesy of Capt. Dialuson Amil of Philippine Coast Guard Cotabato Station.
COTABATO CITY – The Cotabato City government is extending assistance to about
123 families affected by a fire that hit a residential area in Barangay
Tukananes, Cotabato City over the weekend.
The fire
believed to have been triggered by electrical malfunction razed to the ground more
than 100 homes made of light materials and situated in an area surrounded by
Rio Grande de Mindanao.
Fire
investigators said the fire started in the house of a certain Amil Akop after
his electric fan exploded and went ablaze at past 5 p.m. Saturday.
Cotabato City
Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi has immediately directed the city social welfare
office and the city disaster risk reduction and management council to assist
the affected families.
Some of the
affected families stay in their relatives’ homes while others were encamped in
the old pier just across Barangay Tukananes.
It took five
fire trucks from the Bureau of Fire Protection have helped in putting off the
conflagration for four hours, according to Fire Officer 1 Aldrin Jason Nara.
Nara said fire
probers estimated the damages to properties to about PHP600,000. No casualty was reported.
It was the
second fire incident in the same village since 2016. Last year, about 170 homes were also destroyed
by a fire that hit the village of Tukananes believed to have been caused by
electrical short circuit.