Fire razes old shop post-Charter Day

Dawn of fire working an shop and store. A firefighter from the San Carlos City Fire Department struggles to put off the electrical fire on S. Carmona Street with only one fire truck. The old houses with four vehicles were all charred on the dawn of July 2. The night before, the long delayed 52nd Charter Day  fireworks display graced the city skyscape. 

Photo by: Concerned Citizen

Victims lament that fire 

truck’s short of water

It isn't so fun when varicolored sparks of fire gracing the night sky would turn to tongues of flame that charred a store and an embroidery shop fronting two houses. It even becomes disastrous when the fire truck runs out of water.

Barely five hours after sparks of fireworks shoot up the San Carlos sky to mark the 52nd Charter Day Anniversary, a fire turned two wooden houses on S. Carmona Street into ashes.

Ma. Linda Dejecacion, pre-school teacher who owns Corpus Christi Pre-School, recalled that it all started when she and her husband were asleep and their son Ed Joseph just came home from the street party at Center Mall. It was around three to four in the morning; it was still pitch dark.

Sparkplug

Dejecacion added that the fire must have started in the sari-sari store of Albert and Loubette Rogan. Her son saw smoke from the said area when he arrived, then he heard crackling sounds.

Report of the San Carlos City Fire Department confirmed that a short circuit of electrical wires caused the fire.

Totally damaged

After 25 minutes of firefighting, with the Calatrava Fire Department in aid, fire under control was declared. But the sari-sari store (formerly a tailoring shop owned by the Palomares family), an embroidery shop beside it (owned by Melquiades and Miriam Villalon), and the interior house, and the other house rented by the Dejecacions were razed. Rogan's motorcycle and multi-cab and another multi-cab and owner type jeep of Rotillo Dela Victoria exploded.

Embers. A fireman and a volunteer spray water over embers and coals, the remnants of the two wooden houses and shops. It took 25 minutes to control the fire. Calatrava Fire Department rescued what could have been a greater disaster.

                                                

The total damage amounts to P 500,000, based on fire department investigation.

Survival

The Rogans with their two kids and matriarch Zenaida Palomares were able to escape only when they destroyed the decaying wooden wall of the house and they jumped to the pre-school classroom. Mr. Rogan said they could not go out through the front gate because the fire was already towering over the house's front area. They were not able to save a thing, not even the school things of their sons, five and four, who attend Dejecacion's school.

Villalon, on the other hand, was lucky to have saved one sewing machine but due to haste and panic its electric motor was left behind eaten by the fire.

No more water

Amid talks that the fire department's fire truck did not have enough water to kill the fire, Mrs. Dejecacion attested that the city's fire fighters sprayed water over the sari-sari store for only three to five minutes. Then, the truck ran out of water. The pre-school teacher said she saw it because she was standing right across the street.

City Fire Marshall Jonathan Badel admitted that indeed they had ran out of water while fighting the July 2 fire. Badel continued that the fire department's super tanker, the biggest fire truck, is currently in the garage because its machine broke down and is being fixed. Thus, the only truck they used was the 6,000-liter red fire truck.

Mrs. Rogan expressed her dismay, "Kung nadali tani sa bombero." She added that their small store could have been saved bcause it is their only source of income. They have evacuated to the Women's Center of the  City Social Welfare Department  (CSWD). During the day, they watch over their destroyed rented house and scavenge for scraps they could sell.

CSWD has given the family relief goods, rice and canned goods but the Rogans hope that the city government could help them settle in a space at Fatima Village since they could no longer afford to rent another house anew.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Dejecacion regrets the news that her pre-school was destroyed. She clarifies that the school is totally functional and all its facilities for pupils are intact but that she suspended classes for a week. On July 9, regular class will resume.

Agustin Jones, who is in Hong Kong, owns the rented properties and the Rogans said that he has forbidden them from occupying the space again and the entire compound is now for sale.