A POLICEMAN, his wife and their two children perished during a fire that started in a burger store adjacent to their house in Barangay Sto. Niño, Marikina City, early Wednesday morning.
Supt. Randolph Bides, Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP) Marikina head, identified victims as Police Officer 3 Romar Sumait, 27, assigned to PNP Crame Crime Laboratory; his wife Rose, 27; their children Kaizer Lee, 6, and Kenzie Fae, 3.
The victims were trapped inside their burning house on Col. Divino St. in Barangay Sto. Niño, Marikina, according to probers.
Bides said the fire started in the “Signature Burger” store adjacent to house of Sumaits at 2:47 a.m.
“The barangay watchmen told us that they (victims) were calling for help during the fire. They can’t get out their house because of the fire. Also, their windows have grills, even their air-con,” he said in Filipino.
The barangay watchmen called the Marikina BFP to rescue the family.
Responding Marikina firemen extinguished the blaze which also gutted three other houses. They declared fire out at 3:39 a.m.
Bides said the house of the Sumaits was only divided by a wall and a supposed door connecting their house and the burger shop was only covered by wood, where the fire entered.
When firemen entered the house, they first saw the charred remains of one of the parents and one of the children on the second floor. The other parent was seen hugging the child inside the room.
“They were pair by pair. We first saw two victims near the door of the second floor lying. The other pair were seen hugging each other, as if the parent was protecting his/her child from the fire,” Bides said.
According to BFP Marikina, the parents and children cannot be recognized as their bodies were charred beyond recognition.
BFP Marikina said electrical wiring caused the blaze at the kitchen of burger store. (Jel Santos)
