NewsRecord Weekly Publication

Flames

By  Charmaine Sanchez

Last January 12, everyone thought it was going to be one fine Saturday. The weather was fair and at noontime everybody went on with their lunches. Suddenly, a tower of charcoal-black smoke started to rise giving a terrifying view to our San Carlos sky. It was when we all knew it wasn’t the best time to continue eating.
As I took quick steps to reach Endrina, fire victims were already crowding the stretch of Ylagan Street. With obvious adrenaline rush, some were carrying televisions, electric fans, bundles of clothing and there were those who weren’t even able to think about saving anything else but their lives. Others got their hands busy; collecting buckets of water, running to and fro, and saving what they could.
I was devastated looking at how epic the damage was. With what used to look like a neighborhood of houses that can kiss each other, all that remained seemed like a gingerbread town that has gotten licked by a giant dragon’s flaming tongue.
It took an hour and a half before the great fight with the raging flames was declared over. Although the fire department was just a walk away from the burning houses, their men had a difficult time during the actual fire-fighting since they had to go through a narrow maze of houses that are just seats apart, plus the noontime wind acted as loud music making the flames dance even more wildly. Help from the fire department of the Municipality of Calatrava and the residents themselves added strength to our forces.
BFP named this certain Magnolia Flores- the owner of the residence that was said to be the main source of the fire. However, the reason why the fire started is still under investigation.
In every catastrophe like this one, it is already part of human nature to shower blames. The Fire Department is receiving sizzling negative feedbacks on how they responded, and Flores has to face all her neighbors’ angry scowls every now and then. Everyone is also intrigued with the great amount of properties lost considering the fact that the Fire Station is just part of the affected neighborhood. However, I understand how these affected families got their hearts broken with the great damage. Some shed not just sweat but blood in realizing all their properties, and poof, all that turned to ashes.
Our victims are currently located at the new School of the Future building which serves as their temporary home. Help from all over the province are also raining on them. “Maayu ra gyud hapit na ang eleksyon.”- most people are saying.
It is, of course, difficult to get over what happened since it has already left an awful scar to every family left homeless. They may be receiving high-tide-donations now, but most are clueless