Fire spotlights need for gear, safety inspections

Monday, April 18, 2011

THE fire that hit Robinson’s Place yesterday again called attention to the city’s lack of firefighting equipment, particularly to put out fires that hit high-rise buildings.

The firefighters had a hard time reaching and rescuing the people trapped on the upper floors of the mall, as well as those in a connected hotel.

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“Ang atong ladders, second floor to third floor ra taman. Makapangutana ka ba unsaon na lang kaha kon naa’y sunog sa tag-as na building (Our ladders can reach only the second or third floors. Makes you wonder what would happen if a fire hits taller buildings),” said Mayor Michael Rama, who went to the fire scene yesterday and saw just how difficult the firefighters’ job was.

As it was a contained fire, smoke from the second floor of the mall, where the fire started, rose to the third and fourth floors of the mall and the first six floors of Cebu Midtown Hotel. (Walkways connect the mall to the hotel itself.)

Rama said the City will buy fire ladders and will also ask the national office of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to send more firefighting equipment.

At the same time, the mayor is asking business establishments in the city to invest in firefighting gear and create internal fire brigades or emergency response teams. He said they should do their share in keeping the public safe.

“What is really needed is, within the building, there must be an investment on equipment, be it a computerized fire alarm system or anything that will reduce worry, like water cisterns. The management of the building should be attending to the fire while the fire truck is on its way,” he said.

In an interview, Rama also said he will create a task force that will check the establishments to see if these have sprinklers and fire alarm systems, among others.

The group will be composed of the Office of the Building Official, the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council and the Department of Engineering and Public Works, among others.