ILOILO City – March is Fire Prevention Month but this failed to prevent the occurrence of fire across Western Visayas.
From March 1 to 27 the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) recorded 65 fire incidences in the region, or an average of two to three fire cases in a day.
The most common cause of these fire cases were human negligence “lalo na sa koryente,” lamented Superintendent Crosbee Gumowang, assistant director for operations of BFP Region 6.
“Tapos po ‘yong iba sigarilyo po ang dahilan,” added Gumowang.
The 65 fire cases were classified as follows:
* structural – 19 s
* grassfire – 20
* forest fire – seven
* post fire – 17
* vehicular – two
Damage to property caused by these fires reached P1.5 million, said Gumawang.
“Most of the fires were grassfires. This explains the not so high value of property damage,” he clarified.
Other cause of the fires was illegal electrical connections, said Gumawang, prevalent in Iloilo City.
This summer season, the public should be more careful, according to the fire official.
“I-priority sana ang pag-iwas sa sunog hindi lang pag-iwas sa magnanakaw. Sabi nga nila mas mabuti pa ang ninakawan kasi may matira pang bahay kaysa masunogan na ubos lahat ng ari-arian,” said Gumowang.
BFP-6 is intensifying its information dissemination that fire prevention is not only a one-month effort.
“We would like to inform the public that fire prevention is a year-round concern,” stressed Gumowang.
The region needs more fire trucks and fire stations, added Gumowang.
The ideal number of personnel in a fire station is between 20 to 25. In Western Visayas, however, fire stations have 10 personnel on average.
There are around 200 fire trucks in the region but not all municipalities have them, said Gumowang.
Ideally, each local government unit must have a fire truck, he stressed.
Western Visayas have 16 cities and 117 municipalities, with the cities and some towns having more than one fire trucks.
Gumowang, however, stressed that the bureau makes sure this lack of personnel, fire trucks and fire stations does not hamper their operations./PN
