ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 8 January) – Two siblings died in a three-hour blaze that also razed 37 houses in coastal Sitio Bucana, Barangay Titunod in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte at 9:50 p.m. Sunday, January 7.

Ernesto  Valle, chief of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Kolambugan, told Mindanews in a phone interview Monday the male victims, aged six and four, were trapped inside their house made of light materials.

Gretchen Jane Bueno managed to save her one-year old child, but not the sons of her live-in partner Marvin Saura, Valle said.

The father went fishing at the Panguil Bay for a living when the fire broke out, he added.

The fire totally gutted 35 houses and partially damaged two others, Valle said.

Valle lamented that Kolambugan does not have a new firetruck to replace the old and unserviceable one.

He said firefighters from the towns of Maigo, Bacolod and Tubod, as well as personnel from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, responded to the fire call.

The inferno lasted until 11:50 p.m., he said.

The fire victims sought shelter at the Kolambugan gymnasium and were given initial relief assistance, Valle said.

Senior Fire Officer 4 Darwin Enerio, of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Kolambugan, pegged the damage at almost P1 million. (Richel V. Umel / MindaNews)