Fire guts Gustilo ancestral mansion, 1 hurt

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – A member of a rescue team was injured after he responded to a fire which gutted the two-storey ancestral mansion of the Gustilo family, at Hacienda Hortencia, Barangay Daga, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental Tuesday morning.

The fire gobbled P2 million worth of properties.

Fire Officer 3 (FO3) Ranniel Basco, deputy city fire marshal, said the wounded victim sustained minor injuries after he was hit by a hard object, but nothing serious happened to him.

Basco said the fire broke out around 8:35 a.m. and started from the kitchen area of the house occupied and owned by Evangeline and Jomel Ramos.

Basco said no one was inside the house when the fire happened, since Jomel was in Bacolod while his wife sent their grandchildren to school.

The 89-year-old mansion which was built in the 1930s, was made of light materials and had lots of paintings and antique furniture.

Firefighters declared fire out after more than two hours. Basco said they could not yet tell the specific cause of the fire.