ILOILO City – Losses to various incidences of fire in Western Visayas reached P182,112,468.04 million in the first quarter (January to March) of this year, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
These losses were higher than those recorded in the same period last year, P48,721,531, said Superintendent Crosbee Gumowang, assistant director for operations of BFP Region 6.
The bureau recorded 628 fire incidents in the first three months of the year; last year in the same period, there were 349.
The recorded cases this year so far were the following:
* grassfires, 227
* residential fires, 217
* miscellaneous fires (electrical posts, 64; vehicular, 22; forest fires, 20; educational, 13; storage, 13; industrial, five; business, two; and assembly, two).
Per area, Iloilo has the most cases at 374; Negros Occidental, 118; Antique, 46; Capiz, 44; Aklan, 23; and Guimaras, 23.
According to Gumowang, grassfires having the most number of cases was not surprising, citing the prevailing dry conditions brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.
“Usually ang cause ng grassfire is ‘yung may tinapon na sigarilyo,” said Gumowang. “Kung tuyo ang mga grasses madaling lumiyab at mabilis ang spread ng fire.”
He lamented the surge in these fire incidences particularly during the observance of March as Fire Prevention Month.
BFP recorded 280 fire cases in March. There were 2010 in February and 138 in January.
Regarding residential fires, Gumowang said most of the cases were due to negligence or human error (electrical short circuit, unattended lighted candles and cigarettes).
Though the BFP managed to respond to almost all fire calls this first quarter, Gumowang stressed the importance most especially of households to be fire-vigilant all the time.
“Maging fire-safety conscious tayo, hindi lang conscious sa mga robbers,” said Gumowang.
BFP 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
