A total of seven houses were destroyed in a fire that broke out in Barangay Sooc, Arevalo District, Iloilo City, and in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City.

The fire struck past 9:00 p.m. on December 19, beginning at the house of a certain Miriam Acla.

The fire spread quickly to neighboring houses.

A video recording of a resident showed that neighbors tried to put the fire out, but the blaze had already destroyed two houses.

Four other houses were partially damaged.

Jo Ann Laguna, one of the victims, said it took 20 years to construct their house, but it took seconds for the flames to consume everything they had worked hard to put up.

The disheartening part, she pointed out, is that the incident happened a few days before Christmas.

“It’s Christmas and this happened. What is important is my family is safe at a time when everyone was sleeping. We lived here for 20 years before this fire. That’s life, these are just possessions,” Laguna said.

Another victim, Jeffrey Alcain, said that had the firefighters arrived earlier, the blaze could have been contained immediately.

Alcain said that it took over 30 minutes for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to reach the affected area.

“Our houses would have survived. When the firemen arrived, the fire had already burned everything,” Alcain added.

However, according to the BFP, the delay was due to the narrow road leading to the area and double-parked vehicles, tricycles mostly.

The houses were made of light materials, BFP also said.

“That is one of the challenges we face. To the barangay officials, we hope every time there is an incident, they should immediately clear the roads. Aside from our large fire trucks, there are double-parked tricycles. We could not enter,” BFP emphasized.

As of this writing, the BFP has yet to establish the cause of the fire.

Damages reached approximately P255,000.

BFP has reminded the public, especially on the use of Christmas lights during the holidays, to unplug all electrical devices before going to sleep.

“Unplug lahat ng mga electrical device to avoid ng sunog dahil posible ‘yang pagmulan. At huwag pabayaan ang mga Christmas light natin before matulog, i-unplug talaga,” Senior Fire Officer Denmark Macoco, head of the Intelligence and Investigation Unit of BFP Iloilo City, said.

Further, a dawn fire in Barangay Mansilingan in Bacolod City destroyed a house on December 20, 2024.

Bacolod City BFP said that possible electrical ignition could have caused the fire.

The damage was estimated at P500,000.

No one was reported injured in the two incidents. (GMA Integrated News)