THE Davao City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP-Davao City) reported 77 fire incidents in March 2023, higher by 140 percent compared to the same period in 2022 when 32 cases were only recorded.
“Medyo nag-increase ‘yong fire incidents natin, half ani is gitawag nato nga non-structural katong mga grass fire, rubbish fire (We have an increase of fire incidents, half of it are non-structural like grass fire and rubbish fire),” SFO4 Ramil Gillado, Fire District/Investigation Chief, said during the AFP-PNP press conference on March 29, 2023.
Gillado said that one of the reasons why there are cases of grass fire is due to the scorching heat of the sun.
Following the increase in cases, he said that the total cost of damage also increased to 31 million in 2023 from P8 million in 2022.
He said most fire incidents happened in residential areas.
“Nakita nato nga mga causes are top 1 nato ang electrical ignition (We found out that the top cause of fire incidents is electrical ignition) – naa diha ang (this include) electrical short circuit, loose connection then overheating of electrical appliances,” he said.
“Makita nato sa mga informal settlers, kana sila man gud, wala na sila niagi og proseso sa pagtukod sa ilang balay (We usually found these cases within informal settlers since they don’t usually follow the process intended when it comes to house construction),” he said.
Gillafo said following the right process of building a house is one of the early steps of fire prevention.
“Mao unta ‘tong dapat nila buhaton aron during palang sa pagplano sa pagtukod sa ilang balay naa na tay prevention nga gibuhat (That should be the first requirement that they need to do in planning in building their house. They already have practiced prevention),” he added.
He said that before the construction of the house, they will be able to check its blueprint if it follows the standard safety requirements set by the Philippine Electrical Code and building code.
“Pero since wala sila niagi, ma-compromise karun ang safety tungod sa mo-attach nalang sa silingan kung kinsa tong naay legal connection sa kuryente (But since they did not follow the process, their safety will be compromised because some of them will get their connection their from neighbors who have legal power connection),” he said.
He said that the biggest fire incident that happened in the past three months this year was on February 25 in Brgy. 21-C and Bgry. 22-C resulting in 1,200 houses being burned. KSD