THE OFFICE of the First Congressional District Representative Paolo Duterte, through the Pulong Pulong ni Pulong (PPP) program, distributed hot meals and food packs to the fire victims in Barangay Tomas Monteverde in Agdao on Nov. 14.
Rep. Duterte’s personnel immediately responded to the affected areas to assess the situation and distribute hot porridge and food packs (rice, canned goods, bottled water, and other necessities) to affected families of the fire incident.
According to the Davao City Fire District Station, there are 235 houses gutted by the massive fire that lasted for more than two hours in Zone 5 and 6 in Barangay Tomas Monteverde.
Senior Fire Officer 4 Ramil Gillado, spokesperson for the Davao City Fire District Station, said the fire originated from the ceiling of the second floor of William Varona’s house at past 7 a.m. The fire escalated to the nearby homes made of light materials.
Gillado said the firefighters controlled the fire past 9 a.m. He added that they had difficulty putting off the fire due to limited space in the alley heading to the affected areas. Consequently, they lost valuable seconds to extinguish the fire promptly.
Initial investigation by the Davao City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) revealed that faulty electrical wiring was the cause of the fire, which reached a third alarm before it was declared under control by the firefighters.
Not a single person got injured in the incident. The barangay personnel temporarily sheltered the affected families at the covered court while the Davao City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) assessed the total number of affected residents.
Dana Robles, a Sangguniang Kabataan member and resident of the same barangay, posted on her Facebook page asking for in-kind donations for the fire victims. He added the incident affected some of her fellow SK members.
Moreover, the Davao City’s Mobile Kitchen was deployed to the Barangay Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. gym to serve meals to families.
Personnel from the CDRRMO, City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), City Health Office (CHO), and all other frontline agencies are already at the site to attend to the needs of affected residents.
Also, CSWDO continues to validate the affected families.
In a partial count, there are 75 families affected by the fire from Purok 6 and 6A which are now located in the covered court in the said area. Meanwhile, in Purok 5, there are 57 affected families who are currently in the Leon Garcia National High School covered court.
Damaged houses also amount to approximately P4,680,000 and P3,739,000 property damage which reached a total of P8,419,000.
However, they have been given a supply of food as well as a personal hygiene kit that they can use every day.
Meanwhile, the affected residents are still calling for more hygiene kits, used clothes, underwear, diapers for children, drinking water, and food.
Photo courtesy of Davao City Government FB page
