WHILE Dagupan City was still bracing for Typhoon Dante, 23 families were rendered homeless in a one-hour fire that leveled 18 houses to the ground in Sitio Patalan, Barangay Pantal, just below the Pantal Bridge along De Venecia Expressway Extension mid-morning last Thursday, June 3.

F/Major Bryan Pocyao, city fire marshal, said combined firefighters from City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDDRMC), Public Order and Safety Office (POSO), Barangay Affairs Office, Waste Management Division (WMD), and Dagupan Police helped put out the blaze which was tapped out at 11:30 a.m.

All the houses razed to the ground were made of light materials and were adjacent to each other.

It was the second fire that broke out in Dagupan following the March 31 fire in a thickly populated area in Riverside, Arellano, also in Barangay Pantal which rendered 60 families homeless.

Last Thursday’s fire started at the house of one Eden Ocenera who at that time was watching a TV program with members of his family when the TV exploded.

Still some of the residents told reporters that the spread of the fire could have been caused by faulty octopus electrical connections, compounded by the use of substandard chargers in a few of the burnt houses.

Fanned by strong mid-morning winds, the fire quickly spread which prevented some of the affected families to save some of their personal belongings.

All the fire victims were temporarily evacuated to the Pantal Elementary School where they are now being assisted by the City Welfare and Development Office with relief goods and beddings.

Pocyao said investigation is still ongoing to determine the exact cause of the fire, and estimate of property losses. (Leonardo Micua/Ahikam Pasion)

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