By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A stroke patient and her 4-year-old daughter died, while a senior citizen was injured in a fire that gutted eight houses at Purok Bayanihan, 6th Road, Barangay Taculing here yesterday.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Bacolod identified one of the fatalities as 37-year-old Mengel Itchon, while the name of her daughter was withheld.
Wounded was Arthuro Aplacador, 84.
Chief Inspector Stephen Jardeleza, city fire marshal, said the fire broke out from the house of tricycle driver Nickel Aplacador at about 8:47 a.m.
Jardeleza said that Nickel’s house was empty when the blaze occurred, which was allegedly caused by embers in an unattended kitchen.
Jardeleza said that neighbors of Itchon knocked on their door to inform them about the fire. But since Itchon was half paralyzed, she had difficulty getting up from her bed.
Her daughter was believed to have left their house but probably returned to rescue her mother, as they were holding hands when their bodies were found at the fire scene.
Jardeleza said the child probably tried dragging her mother out of their house, but since the fire immediately spread to their house and footwall, they were trapped as there was no other exit.
Jardeleza said the two fatalities probably fell unconscious due to suffocation.
He said they had no companions at home at that time since they all went to work.
Seven houses were destroyed while another was damaged, according to Jardeleza.
The affected households belonged under one roof owned by Precilla Losaria and were divided by partitions and structures. The households were all related to each other.
The wounded victim suffered minor burns on his back and shoulder when he tried to put the fire out.
The fire gobbled an estimated P300,000 worth of property. Fire out was declared around 9:13 a.m.
Fire victims will be temporarily sheltered in an evacuation center.
Meanwhile, Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, who visited the fire scene, said they will assess the city to identify possible fire-prone areas.
Benitez, in a press briefing, said they will take extra measures to prevent the same from happening.
“We will focus on prevention, rather than to think about what assistance we can give. That will be the direction that we will be taking. It should not happen again,” he added.
Benitez said that they have a plan to establish a command response center to unify and cluster fire, police, and rescue into one complex and to share assets and resources for a more efficient response team.
He said they are finalizing the design of the structure based on the need of the fire and police departments.
He said they will find an ideal location for the clustered response facility to be constructed. The idea is to have it spread out for quick response, he added.
