ILOILO City – Yesterday’s neighborhood fire in Barangay San Pedro, Molo district totally gutted five houses and partially damaged six others.
The fire started at around 9:25 a.m. at Gloria Jotes’ house and quickly spread to adjacent houses, according to Fire Inspector Jesus Valenzuela, city fire marshal.
Aside from Jotes’ house, the five other completely razed houses were owned by Diego Ayuban, Rex Galicia, Salde Atadero, and Shane Guingoyan.
The partially damaged houses, on the other hand, belonged to Karen Ferrer, Vic Chavez, Nonato Chavez, Regie Panes, Jocelyn Imbang, and Teresita Panogalinga.
Most of the houses were made of mixed light materials.
Valenzuela said initial investigation showed a generator set in Jotes’ house exploded and may have caused the fire.
It was learned that a power interruption occurred hours prior to the blaze. The Joteses reportedly switched on their generator.
Initial estimate of the fire’s damage was P280,000. No one was reported hurt./PN
