ILOILO City – A predawn fire totally gutted a policeman’s house and killed four members of his family in Barangay San Isidro, La Paz yesterday, the third fire to hit the district in eight days.
Senior Police Officer 2 Richard Gerafusco Sr. of the La Paz police station was on duty when the fire struck around 4 a.m.
He lost his wife Evangeline, 40; son Richard Jr., 15; mother-in-law Elvira Avelino, 64; and aunt Christina Dolente, 75.
Gerafusco was in the field patrolling other areas of the district around that time, said Senior Inspector Val Ladublan, La Paz police chief.
“We are really sad,” said Ladublan.
Four others survived the fire but sustained burns. Carla Avelino, 38, was taken to St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo together with her two sons Jim Carlo, 8, and Salvador James, 9, and Jayvee Avelino, 21.
According to Chief Inspector Christopher Regencia, city fire marshal, all household members were asleep when the fire struck the two-storey house built of wood and concrete.
“Tag-init kasi. Tuyo ang buong bahay that’s why it was totally burned,” said Regencia.
Two neighboring houses owned by Jose Deocampo and Alberto Sumandig were partially damaged.
Structures at the back of La Paz National High School were also damaged.
Although the investigation was yet to be completed, Regencia theorized yesterday that electricity “overload” on the ground floor may have started the house fire.
Too many things plugged into an electrical circuit can cause an overload.
“From the ground floor, the fire quickly reached second floor of the house at bumagsak,” said Regencia.
Firemen recovered the charred remains of the four casualties at the receiving area of the ground floor.
A preliminary estimate of damage at Gerafusco’s house reached to P150,000.
This was the third fire to hit La Paz in eight days. Fire struck Barangay Baldoza, La Paz on May 2. Three houses were totally gutted while two were partially damaged.
Property damage reached P300 thousand, according to Regencia.
The houses belonged to Peter Bolante, Regina Lozada-Bolante, Myrna Onato, Pat Adorio, and Luna Panaguiton.
On April 28, fire struck Barangay Railway, also in La Paz. Two houses were totally razed while four others were partially damaged.
One of the houses gutted belonged to a former barangay councilman of Railway, Raj Padilla. Though currently based in the United Kingdom, he called for an investigation.
In a statement emailed to this paper, Padilla found very disturbing interviews aired over radio station RMN stating that the reason why the fire personnel were not able to respond was because their fire truck has had a flat battery.
Another report stated that the fire truck’s water tank was without water.
“They are tasked by law to respond to fire incidents, to save lives and property. They should be ready at all times. Leaving their fire truck with a flat battery or an empty water tank was too much negligence on their part,” according to Padilla, a former managing editor of this paper and Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent./PN
