BFP-7 inspection in Cebu City shows 23 broken fire hydrants

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Fire Protection-7 is requesting P1.7 million from the Cebu City government in order to repair over 20 fire hydrants in the city which are not operational.

This after BFP-7 conducted an ocular inspection around the city to check on the status of fire hydrants in different barangays as part of its preparations for the expected El Niño phenomenon.

Based on the report of BFP-7, there are 286 fire hydrants in Cebu City and 23 of them are no longer working. There are also six hydrants which BFP-7 found out could not be used because of the surrounding structures.

FO2 Jobito Abelgas, Chief Operations Officer of the Cebu City Fire Station, said they saw a number of problems during the ocular inspection.

“Some of these hydrants could no longer be used because it will not fully open because the operating nuts, di man maliso. It’s either locked by MCWD, while the others are obstructed,” he said.

“In the areas dapit sa Abellana, ug atbang sa CIT-U kay ang mga hydrants gipang-gabas. Sa Barangay Pasil pud, ang hydrant naa sa sud sa ilang sala,” Abelgas added.

Abelgas said there are still sitios in some barangays that don’t have fire hydrants and this needs to be addressed immediately since hydrants are very useful in case a fire occurs.

Abelgas explained that hydrants are needed, especially with the El Niño phenomenon expected to hit the country in the next few months.

“With the coming El Niño we have to be more cautious para ma prevent ang mga sunog kay lisod na samot kay nihit na ang tubig. On the other hand, we have also conducted this ocular inspection to check if these fire hydrants are still functioning because unya ra mahibaw-an ang sud sa tubig if naa na gyuy sunog and dinhi ra gyud ta maka-kuha ug tubig,” according to Abelgas.

Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office chief Dave Tumulak said for sitios that do not have hydrants, they need to address the problem as soon as possible.

Water fountain causes fire

A water fountain ironically caused the fire that razed a house in Tabogon, Cebu Tuesday afternoon.

Police Officer 3 Steeve Book of the Tabogon Police Station said at around 4:30 p.m., they received a fire alarm and immediately went to the scene together with fire fighters of Tabogon and Bogo City.

The house owned by Roy and Susan Rios, both municipal employees of Tabogon town, was destroyed after the submersible pump of the fountain inside their house reportedly overheated.

Book said since the water in the fountain had already subsided, the pump overheated which caused an electrical spark that started the fire.

He said Roy and Susan were working that time and only their 14-year-old son was left at home. The son was able to get out of their razing house.

The fire left an estimated damage of P600,000. — (FREEMAN)