Preventing fire is a year-round exercise – BFP

CEBU, Philippines - Efforts to avoid fire should be an everyday exercise, the Bureau of Fire Protection reminds the public as it launched the yearly observance of fire prevention month.

Sr. Supt. Ma. Luisa Hadjula, chief of BFP 7 said fire prevention should not only be a concern at this time of the year.

As it has always done, BFP has distributed flyers with tips on how to prevent occurrence of fire and contact numbers of the different fire stations for easy reporting in case a fire erupts.

Based on BFP data from the past two months, the number of fire incidents in the region decreased by 9.82 percent compared to the number of incidents in the same period last year – 164 incidents this year and 182 incidents last year.

Hadjula said most the incidents occurred in congested areas and were attributed to electrical misuse. Most of these reportedly occurred in Cebu City but Hadjula explained this is understandable because the city is a highly urbanized area.

She said the BFP in Central Visayas has enough equipment to combat fire.

This year’s observance of fire prevention month revolves around the theme, “Kaluwasan sa sunog, tun-an, buhaton ug atong ikinabuhi.”

Yesterday, fire personnel walked from the BFP regional office to Fuente Osmeña and back to their headquarters where a fire drill was conducted to showcase the firefighters’ skills in responding to fire incidents.

Hadjula will be retiring on March 5, Thursday, and asked her men to stay true to their commitment to the job. – Decemay P. Padilla/JMO (FREEMAN)