P2-million fire razes school campus in Ipil

IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay - Almost nothing was left of a private school here after a four-hour fire razed it to the ground dawn of Monday. Michael Uy, administrator of Medina College-Ipil, said a security guard alerted him when black smoke was noticed coming out from the school laboratory. “It was 2 a.m. when the fire was discovered by our security guard," Uy said. The fire could have been caused by “faulty wiring" inside the school laboratory. “What is lamentable here is that it took one hour for the firemen to respond to our call when the fire was still manageable," Uy said. It took school officials three times to call the local fire office for help and “the first fire truck arrived only at 3 a.m." “The fire could have been stopped and save the whole college from burning if the response from the local fire department was prompt," Uy said. Senior Fire Officer 3 Alberto Tapoc, chief operations officer of the Provincial Fire Office, denied the allegation. “Our fire officers responded promptly," he said. What was delayed was the refill of the firetruck because the firemen had a “difficulty getting the fire hydrant opened." “It took us about 35 minutes to get the fire hydrant opened for us to refill the firetruck," said Fire Officer 2 Tahong Calla. By then the fire was already all over the place, he said. The fire was contained by 6 a.m. Initial investigations pegged the cost of the damage at P2-million. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined by fire investigators. Medina College-Ipil is a branch of Medina College in Ozamiz City. It started its operations here eight years ago. - Antonio M. Manaytay, GMANews.TV