Fire razes Bontoc building; father hurt while saving son

BONTOC Welfare and Disaster personnel deliver relief assistance to fire victims here April 12 in Barangay Mainit.   – Jovi T. Lopez

By Christy Mae F. Che-es

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Fire razed a building here last week, wherein a father saving his son was injured here in Barangay Mainit.
    The Bontoc local government Unit here through its Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) and Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) later provided relief assistance to fire victims on April 12.
    MDRRM Officer Johanna Padaen said the family was given a cavan of rice, carton of assorted canned goods, pillows, bedsheets and pillowcases, blankets and  hygiene kits.
    Padaen added the relief assistance was sourced out from the 5% calamity fund of the Bontoc LGU except for the five hygiene kits provided by the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) to Bontoc LGU.
    The Bontoc Operations Center, in a report said around 3 p.m. on April 10, fire damaged a one-storey residential house in Sitio Perwa, Barangay Mainit.
    The residential house was owned by the late Mr. To-ok, but is now occupied by the family of May Ann Pusot with five household members.
    The house was totally engulfed by the fire with all their properties turned into ash including their harvested rice grains.
    The nearby house owned by Blandina Nagados was partially burned.
    Mainit currently has poor mobile phone reception and residents cannot call  authorities for assistance.
    This made, local folks bring out buckets of water and were able to put out the fire at 3:30 p.m.
    On April 11, the MDRRMO received a report from barangay secretary Eliza Lumachay about the fire which injuring one victim who suffered minor burns on his forehead while saving his son.
    Investigation by the Bontoc Fire Station revealed the fire incident was caused by a spark at the fuse box due to a jumper.
    Upon knowing the incident, Mayor Franklin Odsey directed concerned offices to provide relief assistance.
    “I would like to commend and thank the community for being the first responders. In emergencies like this, the spirit of og-ogfo is observed in every Ifuntok, thus making every struggle manageable,” he said.