BACOLOD CITY – Two persons died while a senior citizen was injured in a fire in Purok Bayanihan, 6th Road, Barangay Taculing here on Monday, April 17.
A STROKE patient and her four-year-old daughter died while a senior citizen was injured in a fire that gutted eight houses in Barangay Taculing, Bacolod City on Monday, April 17. (Photo courtesy of BFP-Bacolod)
Killed in the fire were 37-year-old Mengel Itchon, a stroke victim, and her four-year-old daughter, whose name was withheld. Injured was Arthuro Aplacador, 84. Chief Insp. Stephen Jardeleza, city fire marshal, said that tricycle driver Nickel Aplacador had just left his house for work when the blaze broke out from their kitchen around 8:47 a.m. Jardeleza said the fire was allegedly caused by embers from an unattended charcoal. He said that Itchon and her daughter were trapped when the fire spread to their house and Itchon failed to get out as she was half-paralyzed. Jardeleza said the victims might have fainted due to suffocation and were later burned to death. The victims had no companions at home as they all left for work that morning, he added. The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Bacolod said seven houses were destroyed while another was damaged. Jardeleza said Arthuro sustained minor burns in his back and shoulder when he tried to put out the fire. Damage to property was placed at P300,000. Fire out was declared around 9:13 a.m. Fire victims were temporarily sheltered in an evacuation center. Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez here, who visited the fire scene, said they will assess the city to identify possible fire-prone areas. Benitez, in a press briefing on Monday, said they will take extra measures to prevent the same incident from happening. “We will focus on prevention, rather than to think what assistance we can give. That will be the direction that we will be taking. It should not happen again,” he added.
A STROKE patient and her four-year-old daughter died while a senior citizen was injured in a fire that gutted eight houses in Barangay Taculing, Bacolod City on Monday, April 17. (Photo courtesy of BFP-Bacolod)
Killed in the fire were 37-year-old Mengel Itchon, a stroke victim, and her four-year-old daughter, whose name was withheld. Injured was Arthuro Aplacador, 84. Chief Insp. Stephen Jardeleza, city fire marshal, said that tricycle driver Nickel Aplacador had just left his house for work when the blaze broke out from their kitchen around 8:47 a.m. Jardeleza said the fire was allegedly caused by embers from an unattended charcoal. He said that Itchon and her daughter were trapped when the fire spread to their house and Itchon failed to get out as she was half-paralyzed. Jardeleza said the victims might have fainted due to suffocation and were later burned to death. The victims had no companions at home as they all left for work that morning, he added. The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Bacolod said seven houses were destroyed while another was damaged. Jardeleza said Arthuro sustained minor burns in his back and shoulder when he tried to put out the fire. Damage to property was placed at P300,000. Fire out was declared around 9:13 a.m. Fire victims were temporarily sheltered in an evacuation center. Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez here, who visited the fire scene, said they will assess the city to identify possible fire-prone areas. Benitez, in a press briefing on Monday, said they will take extra measures to prevent the same incident from happening. “We will focus on prevention, rather than to think what assistance we can give. That will be the direction that we will be taking. It should not happen again,” he added.