ILOILO – The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Western Visayas developed a mobile application that concerned citizens can use to alert it fast if there are fire incidents.
“Fire Out 6”, a mobile phone application, was unveiled yesterday when BFP marked its 28th anniversary.
According to Senior Superintendent Roderick Aguto, BFP Region 6 director, firefighters could respond fast to fire calls if they are immediately alerted.
“Fire Out 6” can be downloaded from Google Playstore for free, said Aguto.
Its features include a directory of fire stations across the region, latest BFP news, Citizen’s Charter, fire safety tips, and first aid tips.
Aguto said the app’s most prized feature is the “Respond on Your Report” that allows the public to take photos of fire incidents and send these to the BFP.
BFP’s command center would receive the photos and Google Map would help the bureau locate the fire scene, said Aguto.
There is also a chat feature that allows the BFP command center to locate the user’s location.
“Halimbawa tumawag ang taga-Leganes na may sunog. Malalaman natin. So from there kami ang tatawag sa (local fire station) tao sa baba,” said Aguto.
BFP-6 thought of developing “Fire Out 6” to address frequent public complaints about firefighters’ delayed response to fire calls, said Aguto.
“Most of the time late ang tawag sa amin. It’s always a question of kailan ba kami tinawagan. We cannot anticipate kung kalian magkakasunog. We hope through this app madali kaming maka-respond,” said Aguto.
Nestor Quinsay Jr., undersecretary for public safety of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, lauded BFP-6 for developing such application.
Quinsay was the guest of honor and speaker during the BFP-6 anniversary program. He hoped that the public support the newly launched mobile application “because it will help public safety.”
Quinsay said he would recommend the development of mobile application like “Fire Out 6” in other regions./PN
