BACOLOD CITY – At around 4:37 in the morning of November 26, an early morning fire in the Bacolod City gutted the Java Pension House, killing six people including the owner and his family.
The fire started from the ground floor and spread quickly to other parts of the building because of the strong monsoon winds.
One of the leading causes of deaths related to fires is suffocation due to smoke inhalation.
Smoke inhalation happens when one inhales products of combustion during a fire.
Combustion uses up all the available oxygen in the area where a fire is happening, lessening the oxygen level to zero.
Smoke is not directly harmful but it takes up the space for oxygen needed by the body, thus suffocation occurs.
Suffocation is death caused by lack of oxygen or one being deprived of breathing.
An average of 251 deaths every year are due to fire incidents.
From 2013 to 2017, an average of 15,545 fire incidents every year were recorded by the Bureau of Fire Protection – a total of 77,724 in five years with 42 incidents in a day.
In 2018, there were 14,316 recorded fire incidents in the country from January 1 to December 28.
Some of the bodies found in the recent Java Pension House fire were seen in the hallways – an indication that the victims tried to escape but were left suffocated.
