Bureau of Fire asks MCWD to inspect hydrants

CEBU, Philippines - The Police Coordinating Advisory Council (PCAC) yesterday asked the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) to conduct another inspection of their water hydrants in different areas of Cebu City.

While the MCWD claimed that 333 of them are active, firefighters who inspected them based on the situational map of MCWD found that many hydrants cannot be used.

“Daghang mga hydrants nga dili na magamit kay dikit na kaayo sa mga bungbong sa kabalayan ug lisud na kaayo maablihan,” said Comar, who suggested that MCWD personnel will conduct an inspection together with his firemen and they prioritize the unusable hydrants.

Charmaine Rodriguez, the corporate communications manager of MCWD, attended the PCAC meeting yesterday and promised to bring the matter up with the water firm’s top executives.

At first, it was reported that the firefighters experienced difficulties in getting water supply from a fire hydrant in Uldarico Alviola Street in barangay Tejero when a fire broke out in that place a few months ago because the fire hydrant is already inside a house.

The firefighters also complained that there were times when water pressure in the area where a fire was reported was slow. This prompted firemen to proceed to other hydrants farther from the fire scene.

A representative of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) was also invited to attend yesterday’s PCAC meeting where he was asked to relay to the power firm’s officials to assign one personnel at the central fire station.

 Comar explained that the purpose of assigning VECO personnel at the central fire station is for him to respond to the fire scene together with the firefighters so he could shut off the electricity connection within the vicinity.

“Ang ato gud nga mga bombero kuyawan man kay usahay dugay nga mapawong ang kuryente ug peligro kaayo nga sila makoryentehan. Sa una duna may VECO personnel nga gi-assign pero karon wala na,” Comar said.

It was fortunate in the past years because some of the firemen already knew how to shut off the power, but firefighters who knew how to do it had already retired or are already too old to climb posts.

“Kon dili sila magdestino og tawo diri sa bombero kinahanglang magmonitor sila sa among frequency unya moresponde sila kon may sunog,” Comar said. – (FREEMAN)