By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A 15-year-old boy perished in a fire that consumed four houses at Hacienda Josefa Una, Barangay Blumentritt, Murcia, Negros Occidental last Saturday.
The identity of the deceased, a 10th-grade student, has been withheld.
Fire Officer 2 Reymar Banaglorioso, chief of the intelligence and investigation unit at the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Murcia, reported that the fire started around 2:22 a.m. It is believed to have originated in a room once occupied by the boy’s late grandmother.
According to Banaglorioso, the teenager and his 78-year-old grandfather were sleeping when the older man noticed the fire. He called out to the boy so they could escape from the burning house. However, the teen went back inside to retrieve something and became trapped.
The victim was later discovered in the comfort room, where Banaglorioso suggests he might have been searching for an exit but was overcome by the flames.
The fire also razed two houses belonging to the victim’s relatives and caused partial damage to another. The incident resulted in an estimated P300,000 in damages.
Investigators are preliminarily considering an unattended candle as the fire’s potential cause. Banaglorioso mentioned that the victim’s grandfather had lit a candle at the altar in memory of his wife, who passed away the previous month. “Initially, we think the candle may have caught the curtain,” he explained.
However, they have not yet confirmed the exact cause of the blaze. The fire was extinguished at 3:17 a.m., and an investigation is underway.
