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 p.m. on December 19, 2024 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 already destroyed two houses. Four other houses were damaged partially.

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 to Christmas.

“Pasko pa naman tapos ganito ang nangyari. [Pero], ang mahalaga safe ang lahat kasi ang anak ko at tiyahin ko that time natutulog. Twenty years kaming tumira dito tapos ganito po [sinapit]. Sige lang, mga gamit lang naman yan,” 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.

“Makaka-survive siguro. Baka nga ang bahay namin hindi nadala. Hindi sana naubos kasi pagdating nila (BFP), nasunog na ang aming bahay,” 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.

“Isa yan sa mga challenge sa amin. Sa mga barangay offials, sana everytime na may mga insidente, immediately dapat i-clear ang kalsada. Maliban sa malalaki ang ating fire trucks, may mga naka-double park diyan na traysikel. Hindi talaga makapasok,” 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,” SFO1 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.