Fire Hits Downtown Palompon

A big fire initially diagnosed as faulty wiring burned down the Bernardita's \Grocery located at the center of the town's business district at Brgy. Central III, Poblacion, Palompon, Leyte at around 0200H 21st of September 2009. A subsequent query from a member of the Liok family says that about 10 million pesos was extinguished together with the one storey building in just about an hour of the raging fire, where people can only look helplessly at the site.

The fire which extinguished on its own because of the two firewalls (Myrna Mart and P & P Building) adjoining the gutted  establishment. Majority of the people were afraid of what might happen because the water utility distributing water in the town was undergoing rehabilitation for four days, wherein the schedule of resumption is on the 22nd of September yet.

What makes the situation worse is the non-availability of a fire truck in the town in the strict sense of the word, but only a water tanker. The arrival of fire trucks from Philphos Corp. and Villaba, Leyte was of no help since water was not available. It was just providential that winds that would fan the flames was also not around. 

Onlookers can just thank their favorite saints, because in the previous fire that happened on the same spot several years ago, about eight persons, mostly sales ladies of the store they were serving, perished when they were trapped inside the burning building.


One lucky establishment that would benefit immensely from this incident is the opening that is being waited by almost everyone is the new SM (Sayong & Manuel) at Rizal St., Central I,  several blocks away from the burned Bernardita's grocery store on the same street.