The Bureau of Fire of Protection (BFP) has launched a thorough investigation into a dawn fire in a housing village here on Sunday that left two American missionaries dead.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Filamer Acub, arson investigator of the BFP station here, said Monday their assessment is still ongoing as to the possible cause of the fire at a house in Queenies Love Subdivision, Barangay City Heights that killed couple Jonathan and Roberta Steffy.
He said the victims, estimated to be in their late 50s, were reportedly sleeping when the fire broke out past 4 a.m. and eventually got trapped inside the house.
Acub said they immediately responded to the scene after receiving the fire call and managed to extinguish it around 5:05 a.m.
The remains of the victims, who were church planters and missionaries of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI), were later found inside the gutted bungalow.
“We’re currently gathering the necessary evidence to establish the cause of the fire,” Acub said in a report.
On Monday morning, Acub and his team returned to the scene to continue their investigation and assessment of the incident, which left estimated damage of PHP100,000.
Romeo Tagpuno, a neighbor of the victims, told reporters that they were awakened by some noise from the couple’s house and noticed something burning inside.
He said they immediately called the city fire station for help but the fire spread quite fast in the other parts of the house, which is owned by a retired police officer.
Some of their neighbors tried to help put out the fire but could not enter the gate as it was locked, he said.
The Steffys had been staying in the Philippines since 1990 as church planting missionaries under BBFI and also served for some time in Vietnam.
According to their website, Jonathan grew up in the Philippines as a missionary kid while Roberta was from northern Indiana.
The couple, who have two adult children, previously served in Iloilo City as part of their seventh missionary journey that started in 2012 and was involved in disaster relief work, including the Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.
Source: Philippines News Agency