THE Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 7 personnel will check the barangays to help prevent fire incidents.
Senior Supt. Gilbert Dolot, BFP 7 director, led the launching of the “Bombero sa Barangay (Firefighter in the Barangay)” on the first day of the Fire Prevention Month on Friday, March 1.
“We are hoping that with this program and with the cooperation of the LGU (local government unit) and other stakeholders, we can decrease the number of fire incidents. We are looking for a two percent decrease every year,” he said.
Dolot said a fire officer assigned in a barangay will meet with the village officials and discuss the problems that might lead to fatal fire incidents.
He said a fire safety plan for a sitio in the barangay will be formulated with the help of an expert BFP 7 officer.
The BFP 7 officers will inspect business establishments and the electrical connections of the houses.
Around 300 fire incidents occurred region-wide from January to February this year with an estimated cost of damage at around P150 million.
One hundred and seventy of these fire incidents happened in Cebu Province, 35 in Bohol, 76 in Negros Oriental, six in Siquijor, and eight in Lapu-Lapu City.
Dolot said most of these incidents were fires in residential areas.
“Ang madalas masunugan is yung community. Yung community ngayon ang i-address natin while hindi natin iniiwanan yung fire safety concern natin sa business establishments,” he said.
Electrical overloading remained the main cause of these fire incidents.
“Hindi nagbabago. (It hasn’t changed.) Electrical talaga ang main cause. Iyong sa bahay, wiring installations, overloading, electrical short circuit. Second most common cause of fire is neglect kapag nagluluto sa bahay (when cooking at home),” Dolot added.
He then reminded the public to have their electrical connections constantly checked by licensed electricians for safety purposes.
Cebu City alone experienced not less than 55 fire alarms in the first two months of this year with the estimated cost of damage at P5,759,200.
This is 35 percent higher than the recorded 36 fire incidents in the city in 2018.
The estimated damage from the same period last year, however, amounted to P806,693,700.
It was Jan. 5 last year when a fire hit Metro Ayala Center Cebu with an estimated P800 million cost of damage.
During the kick-off ceremony yesterday for this year’s Fire Prevention Month celebration, Cebu City Fire Marshall Noel Nelson Ababon pronounced that the BFP 7 started implementing its “Oplan Ligtas na Pamayanan” program, a fire safety campaign geared towards empowering the community to prevent fire incident, in the last week of January 2019. (from FMD of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL, Wenilyn Sabalo - USJ-R Intern)