At least 60 houses were burned yesterday in a fire that also wounded a resident in the populated area of Bucana, Barangay 76-A, Talomo District around 12:10 noon.
It was the second fire to hit the coastal barangay within a week.
Senior Fire Officer 2 Ramil Gillado, the chief investigator of the Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP) XI, told TIMES yesterday that the fire originated at the house of Lovely Toto Probable in Purok 2.
Gillado said an overheated electric fan caused the fire.
The fire investigator said the fire escalated immediately to the neighboring houses, mostly made of light materials.
Gillado said neighbor Darwin Namoc, 47, sustained a first degree burn on his left shoulder.
Namoc was sleeping when the fire broke out, Gillado said.
The damage was estimated at P630,000.
Firefighters from the Matina S.I.R. station, Bangoy station, Central station, Lanang station, 911 Fire Auxiliary, Davao Volunteer Fire Brigade (DVFB), Filipino Chinese Firefighters Foundation (FCFF) and Barangay 19-B responded.
Just like the fire incident that hit the same barangay on Tuesday, vehicles parked along the road delayed the firefighters in responding to the fire.
The fire was declared under control at 1:27 p.m.
As of press time, firefighters are still conducting clearing operation in the area.
The number of the affected families was not immediately released.
Victims are now staying at the covered court in the barangay.
On Tuesday, 45 families were rendered homeless in the fire that destroyed 31 houses in Purok 10 of the barangay.
Tuesday’s fire started in the two-storey house of Merna Genovia in Purok 10, Bucana at 9:15 a.m. apparently caused by unattended cooking.
