RETURNING to smoldering ruins on Friday morning, displaced residents of Purok Bakal in Barangay Leon Garcia, Agdao, Davao City faced total destruction following a massive fire that broke out a little past 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, 2026, reaching Task Force Alpha and affecting approximately 1,000 families.
For 67-year-old Teresita Binatero, one of the victims, it’s her first time in her nearly seven decades of living in the area that she experienced losing a home with nothing saved.
"Karon pa gyud nahitabo sa tibuok nakong kinabuhi nga nawad-an kami og balay. Sakit kaayo kay wala gyud miy nasalbar (It is only now in my entire life that we lost a home. It hurts so much because we saved nothing),” Binatero expressed as she asked for financial aid, rice, water, and food supplies to help her family restart.
Liza Tanudra, 38, recounted the terrifying speed of the inferno that left her family with zero saved and led to the tragic loss of their household pets when her husband barely had time to open their door before flames escalated to their residence.
"Pag-abot sa akong bana, kadiyot ra gani niya naablihan ang pultahan aron ibuton ang freezer, apan sa usa ka pikit, gilamon na sa kayo ang tanan (When my husband arrived, he barely had time to open the door to put the freezer inside, but in a blink of an eye, the fire devoured everything),” Tanudra said, sharing how fast the blaze wiped out their home.
Describing the initial chaos, 59-year-old Alma Kabodilvo shared how she panicked upon realizing the fire was approaching directly toward her house, prompting her to quickly rescue her dogs, cats, and chickens from the second floor before going to the Leon Garcia Elementary School evacuation center.
"Ang una nakong gihunahuna mao ang pagluwas sa akong mga binuhing hayop (The first thing on my mind was rescuing my pets),” Kabodilvio said in an interview.
Following the complete loss of their properties, affected residents stressed that their most immediate needs include financial assistance, rice, clean drinking water, replacement clothing, and basic cooking utensils, as all household items were destroyed in the fire incident.
Traffic disruption
As displaced families face recovery process and urgently appeal to the local government and public for relief assistance, the physical impact of the disaster continues to spill over into local transportation, with two road lanes near the fire site remaining completely closed as of 12 noon on the following day, October 15, to facilitate ongoing clearing operations, site assessments, and emergency response efforts.
Fire reaches Task Alpha
Fourteen fire stations deployed 15 fire trucks to battle a massive residential fire that reached Task Force Alpha, the sixth level of the Bureau of Fire Protection’s (BFP) fire alarm system, affecting around 1,000 families in Barangay Leon Garcia Sr., Agdao District, Davao City, on Thursday evening, October 15.
Task Force Alpha is an alarm level that calls for reinforcements beyond the regular first-to-fifth alarm levels, mobilizing additional firefighting resources to address a major blaze.
The fire broke out in a residential area in Carpenter shortly after 5 p.m. and rapidly spread through the neighborhood, prompting authorities to escalate the alarm level and mobilize additional firefighting units.
Bureau of Fire Protection-Davao City Fire District Senior Inspector Frances Marie Sendrijas said the response involved 14 fire stations, with additional assistance from volunteer firefighters and other emergency responders.
“It involved 14 stations with 15 fire trucks [and] that's the BFP alone at hindi pa kasama do’n sa 15 firetrucks yung volunteers, CDRRMO at marami talaga yung mga responders natin,” Sendrijas said in a radio interview.
The fire reached the fifth alarm at around 7:26 p.m. before the response was raised to Task Force Alpha as firefighters worked to prevent the blaze from spreading further.
BFP general guidelines state that fire response escalates from the fifth alarm, requiring 20 fire trucks, to Task Force Alpha, requiring at least 24 fire trucks, TF Bravo (28), Charlie (32), Delta (36), and General Alarm, which requires about 80 fire trucks.
The Davao City Fire District placed the fire under control at 8:49 p.m. on Thursday. Firefighting operations continued until the blaze was declared out at 1:20 a.m. on Friday, October 16.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) initially estimated that around 1,000 families were affected by the incident, although the final number of displaced residents had yet to be established.
CSWDO head Julie Dayaday said the office would conduct a validation of affected households on Friday to determine the actual number of families and individuals affected and assess their needs.
Evacuation centers opened, immediate aid poured
Authorities identified several temporary shelters for residents whose houses were gutted down. These include the Barangay Leon Garcia Sr. gymnasium, designated as the primary evacuation center, Leon Garcia National High School, Emmanuel Garcia Elementary School, the Barangay Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. gymnasium, and the Agdao Skate Park.
The evacuation facilities are intended to accommodate affected residents while authorities assess the damage and coordinate relief operations.
Dayaday reported that masterlisting and validation of the affected families remain ongoing.
Immediate assistance was also extended by the offices of Vice Mayor Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II and Davao City First District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, who distributed relief food packs and served hot lugaw to affected residents on Thursday evening.
Donation drive launched
Meanwhile, the CSWDO has established a donation drop-off point at Rizal Park to support families displaced by the fire.
The drop-off point at Rizal Park was open on Friday, October 16, from 1 to 8 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17 and 18, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
In their official announcement, CSWDO is appealing for ready-to-eat food, bottled water, hygiene kits, sleeping mats, blankets, disposable underwear, wearable clothing, cooking utensils, pots, and slippers.
Donors are also encouraged to provide baby diapers, sanitary napkins, as well as candies and toys for children’s psychosocial intervention.
While wearable clothing is accepted at the Rizal Park drop-off point, CSWDO officials noted that bringing garments directly to the evacuation sites is preferred.
"Nagadawat gihapon mi og kaning mga sanina pero mas maayo i-diretso na nila didto sa evacuation (We still accept clothes, but it is much better if you bring them directly to the evacuation centers)," a CSWDO representative told SunStar Davao.
In addition to basic necessities, medical supplies are urgently needed, including tetanus toxoid, antibiotics, paracetamol, cough and cold medications, vitamins, nebules, and specialized ointments and creams for wounds and burns.
The complete inventory of requested medical supplies is posted on the official City Government of Davao Facebook page.
"We encourage everyone to coordinate with the CSWDO to ensure the orderly distribution of donations," the City Government emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Council of Barangay Leon Garcia Sr. also launched a donation drive.
In its appeal on Facebook, the youth council encouraged the public to extend assistance, emphasizing that donations of any amount or form could help residents who lost their homes and belongings.
Authorities have yet to release a final accounting of the damage caused by Thursday's blaze.
As of press time, SunStar Davao had tried to reach out to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Davao for an update on the investigation into the cause of the fire and other details of the incident. MMC, DEF, GRS