No firecracker-related fires during holidays – DILG

MANILA, Philippines — No fires caused by firecrackers were recorded during the holidays, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said yesterday.

This is the first time since the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) was established in 1991 that no firecracker-related fires were reported throughout the holidays, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement.

He said there were at least 10 firecracker-related fires during the holidays in Metro Manila alone in the past few years.

Año attributed the zero fire incidents to the intensified information campaign of the DILG and other agencies including the BFP, the Philippine National Police, Department of Health and local government units.

Firecracker-related injuries also dropped by 85 percent, with 50 persons injured from Dec. 1, 2020 to Jan. 1, 2021 compared to 340 during the same period the year before.

In December 2020, the number of fires nationwide dropped by 52 percent, totaling 593 incidents compared to 1,246 in December 2019.

For the entire 2020, a total of 4,417 fires were reported in the country, which is 18.26 percent lower than the 5,404 incidents in 2019.