EDITORIAL - Fire prevention

At the end of February, the Bureau of Fire Protection held a parade featuring some of its trucks and equipment as well as new regular personnel: women firefighters.

The parade kicked off events to mark Fire Prevention Month, while at the same time saluting Women’s Month. March, usually the warmest, driest month of the year, has been picked to raise public awareness of fire safety measures. Coincidentally, the deadliest fire in the country, which claimed 162 lives, occurred on March 16, 1996, with most of the fatalities students celebrating their graduation at the Ozone Disco in Quezon City.

The BSP wants the public to be mindful in particular of electrical wiring at home and in offices. Records show that faulty electrical wiring has been the most common cause of fires nationwide. At around 2 a.m. on Dec. 4, 1998, degraded electrical wiring in a decades-old building housing the Bahay Kalinga orphanage in Paco, Manila set off a fire that razed the structure, killing 28 people, mostly children and infants.

On Dec. 23, 2017, an electrical short-circuit on the third floor of the New City Commercial Center mall in Davao City set off a fire that burned for 32 hours. Thirty-eight people, most of them working in a call center on the fourth floor, were trapped and perished in the fire. Probers said the mall lacked a working sprinkler system.

Faulty electrical wiring was also seen as the cause of the pre-dawn fire that struck the Manor Hotel in Quezon City on Aug. 18, 2001. Probers said the six-story building lacked fire escapes, fire alarms, water sprinklers and emergency lighting. Seventy-five people died, many of them participants in a Christian crusade organized by a Texas-based ministry.

Chemical fires can be particularly difficult to put out, so factories and other industrial installations are encouraged to be fully compliant with fire safety standards. On May 13, 2015, a fire ignited by welding sparks at the entrance to the Kentex rubber slipper factory in Valenzuela City trapped the employees as the rear gate could not be opened and there were no fire exits. It took five hours to put out the fire. By that time, over 70 people were dead including some of the owners.

Local government units should also be mindful of their responsibilities in ensuring compliance with building and fire safety codes. LGU officials in charge of inspecting buildings for compliance with the safety standards and issuing business permits have been convicted of graft and negligence in carrying out their duties in connection with deadly fires.

Last year, over 13,000 fires were reported nationwide, claiming lives and destroying property. The public knows the risks. Fire prevention must not only be confined to a special month, but observed around the clock.