Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Carvajal: Circus minus the clowns By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
MARCH is Fire Prevention Month but on TV the other day firemen were showing off some rappel gear and technique for use in case of fire in tall buildings. The same show highlighted some sort of a smoke detection device that, according to the host, from now on will be required standard accessory in all new building constructions.
I do not know what local government units and their respective fire departments in other cities are doing to improve fire prevention but the pieces of equipment and skill mentioned above are definitely not fire preventive. One is for rescue and the other for fire detection. They are designed for tall concrete buildings where catastrophic fires seldom occur.
Everybody knows that 90 percent of conflagrations happen in slum areas where structures of very light materials are built in very haphazard fashion.
How can aerial ladders, rappel gear and techniques rescue would-be fire victims, much less prevent fires, in such a combustible area? And of what use are smoke detection devices when, because of the light materials, by the time one sees smoke the fire is well on its way to finishing off one tinderbox of a structure?
Of course, when a fire happens in these places some politician always comes around to deplore the catastrophe and bewail the lack of access roads that prevent fire trucks from doing their job of putting out the fire. He often makes a no-brainer of a statement that the fire highlights the need to put some order into the building of structures so that roads can be put in place that give fire trucks access to the area in case of fire.
After the fire, however, nothing is done about the problem. You’ll hear about the same analysis again at the next fire or at the next Fire Prevention Month. Same correct analysis and same inaction on the analysis.
If we are really serious we should prevent fires where they most often occur, in our slums. A long-term relocation and housing program must be drawn up and implemented. Zoning laws and building codes must be observed strictly.
Meanwhile, authorities must prevent the expansion of slum areas while they find ways to create order in the buildings so an access road can be put in for fire trucks to use in case of fire. These are the basics of fire prevention.
Admittedly, this is easier said than done. But that should not be a reason for our politicians to just keep saying it. Precisely because it is a difficult and expensive task it should start to be done now before slum areas grow more and more overcrowded.
Meanwhile, since no basic fire prevention is being done where it matters, there is no reason to celebrate a Fire Prevention Month that has become a circus minus the clowns.
