Series of fire incidents break out during the year's first three

weeks
CARMELA LAPEÑA, GMANews.TV
01/19/2010 | 03:23 PM

The season for fireworks is over, but the first month of the year continued to burn bright –literally – for areas inside and outside Metro
Manila.

What seems to be an unusually high incidence of fires has razed different areas across the Philippines during the first three weeks of
2010.

The most recently reported fire occurred late Monday in Taniong Village in Malabon City. The blaze killed two victims, both of whom
remained unnamed as of posting time, a report on dzBB said.

This Malabon fire occurred less than a week after a fire in the 52-hectare Bataan Shipping and Engineering Company (Baseco)
compound in Tondo, Manila where at least 800 houses were destroyed and one child, around six years old died, dzBB reported.

January 14 saw three separate fire incidents in Banilad Village, Mandaue City, Cebu; Gasak Village, Meycauayan, Bulacan; and
Talisay City, Negros Occidental.

Six-year-old Mike Punsal, brothers Joey, four; and Gideon, two, all died in the fire that razed their house, according to a report from
dzBB’s Cebu affiliate.

In a predawn fire, Jun Comita, 13-year-old Paul Comita, and their helper identified as Letty Jimena burned to death in their residence
on Rizal Street in Zone 7, Pilipina Baybay area in Talisay City.

In the meantime, some 200 families were relocated temporarily to Meycauayan West Central School as their houses had burned
down, according to dzBB.

Just a day before, 2,000 families were rendered homeless by a seven-hour fire in Manila’s Paco district.

Despite the high frequency of recent fires, the figures are still less than the previous year’s, Fire chief Senior Superintendent Pablito
Cordeta told GMANews.TV in a telephone interview.

“May na receive ako na update last week, mas mataas pa rin last year [The update I received last week indicates that there were
more fires during the same period last year]," said Cordeta.

However, no official statistics have been made available for this year’s fires since the Bureau of Fire Protection has yet to receive
final investigation reports, Fire Officer 1 Rodulfo D. Aguilar, BFP Data and Statistics clerk, said.

“Tuwing naiinterview ako, sinasabi ko, nagpapaalala ako sa ating mga kababayan na mag-iingat [Every time I’m interviewed, I
always remind everyone to always exercise caution]," said Cordeta, adding that the most frequent cause of fires is electrical
problems.

Cordeta also called on barangay officials to work with the Fire Department to help avoid more fires.
“Mayroon tayong barangay-ugnayan, at tuloy-tuloy ang inspeksyon [We undertake coordination at the barangay level and
inspections are continuously being undertaken]," said Cordeta, referring to the BIDA (Barangay Integrated Defense Action) program
which is meant to be the first line of defense against fires.

With BIDA, improvised firefighting equipment can be sourced from sandbags and drums of water while waiting for firefighters to
arrive.

"In 30 seconds pagkatanggap ng tawag nasa kalsada na sila. In five minutes dapat in area of responsibility sila [In 30 seconds after
receiving a call, they must already be on the road. In five minutes, they must already be in the area of responsibility]," Cordeta said
in an interview on dzBB last December 30.

Besides faulty electrical connections, unattended lit candles and cooking devices are usual causes of fires, Aguilar told
GMANews.TV in a telephone interview.

Fires are usually accidental, and often involve electrical connections. “Kadalasan aksidente, lalo sa jumper, octopus connections
[Most of the time, cause of fires involve accidents surrounding the use of jumpers and octopus connections]," Aguilar told
GMANews.TV in a phone interview.

More than half of fires in the Philippines last year – or 6128 of the total 8271 cases – were classified as accidental, with 1710 cases
still under investigation, said a report of consolidated causes of fire incidents from the BFP’s Investigation and Intelligence Division.

Last year, 2520 fires nationwide were caused by electrical connections, out of the total 7726 fires. The same report showed 574
cases due to unattended cooking and 561 due to unattended cigarette butts.

Two hundred thirty-five died in fires in 2009, including one firefighter in the Caraga region.

The BFP conducts inspections but not for informal settlers, Cordeta said. Many informal settlers live in cramped neighborhoods on
abandoned private or government property or under bridges and similar structures.

Aguilar also said the BFP does all it can to deal with fires.

“Ginagawa lahat ng paraan, yan po talaga ang adhikain naming na mapaganda ang aming serbisyo, [We are doing everything to
enhance our service]," said Aguilar. - RJAB Jr./ GMANews.TV
Share
BFP: 4,850 fire incidents in 2010
By RIZAL S. OBANIL
January 3, 2011, 4:11pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) yesterday said that fire incidents in the
country increased this year.
Based on data gathered by the BFP from December 15, 2010 some 4,850 fires happened last year. This
means that there was an increase from 2009 figures by some 3,500 incidents.
Chief Inspector Honnefritz Algano of the BFP Public Information Office of the National Capital
Region (NCR) said that in 2010, 3,700 out of the 4,850 incidents happened in residential areas.
Based on their data, some of the fires were caused by unattended candles, stoves and lighted cigarette
sticks. But the primary cause of fires, based on the BFP data, is electrical wiring, mostly due to
problems in electrical installations inside houses and buildings which were hit by fire.
The New Year's eve celebration itself was hit by two fires in separate areas in Sta. Cruz and Sampaloc,
Manila only a few hours apart. The fire in Sta. Cruz hit a two-story house on the corner of Rizal
Avenue and Batangas Street while the fire in Sampaloc hit a two-story apartment on Vicente Street.
A fire which happened only a few days ago before the year ended was the one which hit the union
building of the Philippine Air Lines Employees Association at the Baclaran area in Parañaque City.
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Fire Incidents in Metro Manila, Higher in March?

Wondering why this weekend, firetrucks were all over the country waking up people with the sirens? I
almost ran out of the room half-sleep thinking there may be fire somewhere when my husband relaxed
me and said, it’s just a parade.
It was the signal for the celebration of the Fire Prevention Month held annually in March. Today is the
first day of the month-long awareness campaign on fire prevention of the Bureau of Fire Protection
(BFP). Summer usually begin in March that’s why it’s chosen as the fire month since people are using
more electrical appliances and equipment during this period which misuse and inattention may cause
fire incidents. The BFP is expecting possibility of greater number of fire incidents during this month.
Last year, the number of fire incidents all over the Philippines reached to 8271 where 6128 are
classified accidental by the BFP. More than 4,000 of those happened in Metro Manila with almost one-
third to one-half of those cases were reported caused by electrical faulting. From January 2011 to today,
there are already 686 fire incidents all over Metro Manila and summer is just starting.