THE Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) recorded a total of 62 fire incidents for the month of March, which is declared as the Fire Prevention Month.
This is 19.2 percent higher from the 52 cases in March 2018.
Senior Fire Officer 2 Ramil Gillado, the chief Investigation officer of BFP, said despite the increase in fire incidents, this year's damages is much lower at an estimated P3 million from P6 million in 2018.
The top three fire incidents are grass, residential, and rubbish fire.
For the grass fire and rubbish fire, the improper or careless disposal of cigarette butt and bonfire or unattended burning of garbage or waste materials has caused these incidents.
For the residential, most of the incidents are electrical-related because of an electrical short circuit, electrical arcing due to loose contact, and overheated electrical appliance. Their investigation also showed that unattended cooking and child playing lighted matches or lighters have also triggered fire incidents.
Their data further showed that in January 2019, they responded to 51 fire incidents while 60 for the month of February.
Another factor that led to the increase of fire incidents is the dry season.
“Kahit upos sa sigarilyo nga ilabay sa kasagbutan or basurahan mag cause na ug fire tungod kay uga na kaayo (A cigarette butt that is thrown at a grassy area or a pile of garbage can still cause fire)," Gillado said.
He added overusing the electric fan and air conditioning units due to the summer heat may cause overheating of the appliances. The public is advised to turn these appliances off when not in use.
Gillado underscored that during the fire prevention month, they conducted a massive awareness campaign to the public on fire safety dubbed as “Oplan Ligtas Pamayanan.”
“The purpose of this program is to develop our community how to be disaster resilient, especially in fire. We train our community that Fire prevention should start from simply knowing it, applying it in everybody's daily lives, practicing it with family members and sharing it in the community,” Gillado said.