Teacher in Dumangas fire died of sixth degree burns

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Autopsy results apparently found nothing mysterious in the death of a teacher who died along with her three young children in an early morning fire at their home in Dumangas, Iloilo last week.

Dr. Owen Lebaquin the medico-legal officer who conducted the autopsy, said that Rhea Padios’ cause of death is “sixth degree burns.”

Sixth-degree burns could result in the destruction of a person’s bone, nerves, trunks, etc.

In the case of the 38-year-old Padios, “she sustained sixth degree burns in the head, trunk, and extremities.”

“Sa sunog gid s’ya napatay. May signs pa nga buhi pa sya pagkasunog,” Lebaquin said.

Lebaquin, who used to be the medico-legal officer of the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory Office 6, said that Padios could have even shouted for help.

“Bilog nya nga respiratory tract – from her nose straight to her bronchus – is covered with soot,” he said. “Meaning, she was still breathing before she got burned.”

Lebaquin said he checked the victim’s back portion of the body, neck, head, and thorax but found no injuries.

Her forearm, hands, and fingers were reduced to ash. Her stomach was also empty, which is consistent with the fact that she died early morning, around the same time her house was burned.

Earlier, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has requested Padios’ husband, Henry, to request for autopsies on his wife and their three children.

Henry allowed the autopsy on his wife but declined on the three kids.

The autopsy was triggered after BFP investigators unearthed an unusual point of origin that led to the conflagration early morning of November 10.

The bodies of Rhea, her son Hienz Michael, 7, and daughters Hera Earl, 6, and Hailey Eslestine, 3, were found inside their burnt house at Barangay Pagdugue.

Fire Senior Superintendent Jerry Candido, BFP-6 regional director, has declined to refer it as “foul play” pending scientific evidence to show that the fire was intentional.

Candido, who personally went to the scene on Thursday, said he discovered that the wood flooring bridge at the bedroom appeared to be the “origin of fire.”

On Wednesday, investigators from Dumangas Fire Station initially learned that the fire’s point of origin was the wall portion that separates the living room and bedroom.

That portion, he said, is elevated by at least one meter from the living room.

Candido conducted a walkthrough of the structure.

“From the living room, you make three steps going to the study room. From there, you turn left to the bedroom, which is elevated by around a meter. The house is double walled with langkob (bamboo cut into half) on the outside and marine plywood inside. The elevated portion of the portion is made of half-inch marine plywood. The roof is made of galvanized iron sheet with plywood ceiling while the window is secured by a steel matting. Underneath the bedroom, you could be unobstructed because there was no barrier,” Candido described the area.

“At the wall, our investigators said there was an electrical installation nga may evidence of short circuit. But we also found out that the bridge of the floor at the portion that divides the bedroom and study room, the most damaged portion is not wall but the floor,” he noted.

“So the next question, which part of the floor is the most damaged? As we saw it, the only thing that was left was the bridge that connects the floor. The wall in that area is totally burned. The most damaged part is the portion below the bridge and not the portion that was inside the house,” he said.

Candido said it is very unusual “because if it’s electrical installation, the point of origin should be on the top of the floor. The damage of the fortress should be on the top part surface and not underneath.”

However, the physical evidence is very clear that the most damaged part is below that bridge.

Candido said they found no incendiaries like gasoline or gas that could be used to trigger the fire.

The local BFP received the call around 4:45 a.m. of Wednesday last week.

But residents surmised that the fire could have erupted around 4:30 a.m.

When fire responders arrived five minutes after the call, the lone bedroom of the single storey house already collapsed.

At that time, fire was still engulfing the living room and the kitchen.

Firemen declared fire out at 5:19 a.m.

When they checked, all bodies were lumped together inside the room.

It was theorized that the family of four was sleeping at the double-deck bed when the conflagration occurred.

Based on the responders’ observation, the mother could have attempted to open the steel matting window to escape the fire.