By Ivy Tejano
DAVAO CITY – Eight houses were razed and another one was partly damaged when fire broke out in Purok Lemonsito Aguilar, Barangay Mankilam in Tagum City on Tuesday evening.
Fire Officer 3 (FO3) Joe Allam Fernandez, investigator from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Tagum City, said in a phone interview that nine families were left homeless following the incident.
Initial investigation conducted by members of the BFP-Tagum revealed that the incident happened at around 9 p.m. on April 23 at the variety store owned by Lalay Lagrimosa.
“The cause of the fire was due to electrical short circuit, following their electrical routing. Bale nakikabit lang ng kuryente sa kapitbahay itong may ari ng sari-sari store,” Fernandez said.
Personnel of the BFP, along with other firefighters in Tagum City, were able to control the fire around 10 p.m. and announced the fire under control at 11:05 p.m. No casualty was reported.