By Perla Lena/PNA
ILOILO CITY — Fire prevention measures for the public to observe were laid down by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) here as it anticipates more fire incidents due to the dry spell.
In a phone interview Wednesday, BFP-Iloilo City chief of operations, Senior Fire Officer 3 (SFO3) Aquilino B. Sampiano, advised the public to always store water at night time, which they can use to put out fire.
“They should create a fire brigade that will serve as the front-liner during fire incidents while the fire trucks are on their way,” Sampiano said.
He said that without a fire brigade, the tendency is for residents to just gather whatever things they could save instead of helping douse the fire before it spreads to neighboring houses.
“They can always request for trainings. We are available even during Saturdays and Sundays to facilitate their trainings,” Sampiano added.
A minimum of 15 able-bodied individuals can already form one fire brigade. They can be youth, barangay tanod, or barangay officials capable of helping in case of fire incidents.
He said the public should observe fire prevention daily and not just during the month of March as more incidents are expected due to the dry spell.
Meanwhile, in March this year, when the country observed Fire Prevention Month, the BFP responded to 77 fire calls compared to only 34 incidents in 2018.
Of the 77 fire calls, BFP data showed that 22 were structural, 24 grass fires, 21 electrical pole fires, eight rubbish fires, and two were vehicular fires. There was also one fatality in a fire incident in Barangay Bakhaw, Mandurrriao on March 1.
The recent conflagration happened in Barangay Tanza Timawa Zones 1 and 2 almost midnight of March 31 that resulted in an initial damage of more or less PHP500,000. The fire gutted 18 houses and partially damaged nine others.
On the other hand, a fire also razed 30 houses and partially damaged six others in Zone 12, Barangay Calaparan, Arevalo district at 8:24 p.m. on March 30.
Sampiano said the affected areas are usually congested and the access road could not accommodate fire trucks because it was only a “small alley”.
Meanwhile, Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa said in an interview Monday that the local government will require all barangays to have a fire alley to give access to fire trucks.
“We will identify the most hazardous barangays and have them designed that it will not be used as parking areas during night time,” Espinosa said in an interview.
They will install dry pipes in inaccessible areas for fire fighters to utilize in case of fire incidents. There will also be an alarm system to alert the public.