Live wire on window grills prevents neighbors from saving victim
He installed live wires on his window grills to keep away burglars and thieves from his house.
Unfortunately, this measure to protect his property also stopped his neighbors from rescuing school principal Jose Embert Catarata when fire broke out inside his one-story house in sitio Cantecson, barangay Gairan, Bogo City in northern Cebu.
Catarata, 43, school principal of Odlot National High School in barangay Odlot, Bogo City, was killed in the fire that occurred at 1:17 a.m. yesterday.
“Ang biktima nangayo pa ni og tabang sa mga silingan pero dihang mi-action sila og hikap sa window grills, dunay koryente maong miatras ang mga silingan (The victim called for help from his neighbors but when the neighbors tried to remove the window grills they felt an electric shock and so they moved away),” said acting Bogo City Fire Marshal SFO1 Eduardo Sotto.
Sotto estimated the property damage at P300,000.
Sotto also said the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring and electrical misuse.
Sotto also said the house only one exit door, which was located in the living room where the fire started.
He said fire investigators found out the victim forgot to unplug his laptop, television and electric fan at the living room and fell asleep in his bedroom.
He also said it was possible that the live wires on his window grills started the fire since the fire happened after it rained.
PO3 Allan Dosdos, investigator of the Bogo City police station, said the fire alarm was received at 1:25 a.m. When they arrived at the scene, the fire had already engulfed the whole house.
After the fire was put out, the burned body of Catarata was found lying on the floor near his bedroom facing his door.
Sotto said there were electrical wirings over Catarata’s body when they found him.
He said the wirings could have fallen on him after he fell on the floor from suffocation.
Dosdos said they were coordinating with the City’s fire department to check if the incident was arson. However, the post-mortem examination of Catarata’s body showed no signs of foul play.
Dosdos said the victim’s wristwatch and necklace were recovered in his body while all other things inside the house were damaged.
The post-mortem examination conducted by Dr. Minerva Millor, city health officer, showed that Catarata died of severe burns all over his body.
There was no indication that harm was inflicted on him before the fire, the doctor said.
Dosdos said the bedroom’s windows were surrounded with iron grills and Catarata might have been trapped inside his room.
Fire chief Sotto said the fire started at the living room and when the victim noticed the fire, it was too late for him to get out from his room.
Sotto said all windows in the one-story house were enclosed with iron grills, where Catarata installed live wires.
Sotto said Catarata might have installed the live wires on the grills after his house was burglarized twice sometime while he was at school.
Sotto said the victim, who was single, lived alone in his house. Some of his siblings lived in another barangay.
DepEd-7 Regional Director Dr. Recaredo Borgonia, who learned of Catarata’s death, extended his condolences to the victim’s family. He said he was a good principal.
Borgonia said he might appoint a new principal or an officer in charge on June, the start of classes.
“We would make sure that the incident would not hamper the affairs of the school,” Borgonia told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
Borgonia said standard operating procedure requires the highest-ranking teacher next to the principal to assume the vacant post.
However, he said DepEd-7 would still have to assess the possible replacement.
He said DepEd is not liable to the incident since it happened outside the school premises and beyond school hours.
Borgonia said Catarata’s family will get benefits since the victim was a government employee./With reports from Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya and Correspondents Carine M. Asutilla and Gabriel C. Bonjoc
