Poor families most affected by fires
The Bureau of Fire Protection Region 7 assured to reach out to the marginalized communities as they are the most affected victims during fire incidents.
During the 44th Fire Service Recognition Day on December 18 held at the Cebu Business Hotel, the guest of honor and speaker, Mr. Nagiel B. Bañacia, chief of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CCDRRMC), emphasized that the poor are the most unfortunate during fire incidents.
"Most of those who suffer are really the poor," he said.
Based on their data, Bañacia said that for 2016, total damage reached up to P331.2 million with over 2,500 families affected.
Among the 2,500 families, only one victim is well off and the rest are middle class or poor families.
Bañacia also emphasized to be more focused on preventing fire rather than putting it off.
He said that the BFP must aim to be 90 percent focused on prevention and 10 percent on suppression.
That is why continuous public information dissemination and creation of fire brigade per barangay must be continued to educate community members.
"It's better to teach the people how to prevent fire rather than responding to fire incidents," Bañacia said.
The regional director of BFP-7, Senior Supt. Samuel Tadeo, affirmed that they will be hands-on in educating the poor communities to avoid the increase of damage and fatalities of fire victims.
"We are continuously doing public information dissemination to educate them. Kailangan talaga namin bumaba sa ground at magturo sa mga tao at ipaalam namin," he added. (We need to reach out to the grassroots level.)
Tadeo promised to be visible in going to the marginalized sector and impart lessons most especially proper electrical wiring as this is the most common cause of fire incidents throughout the year.
Despite this, Tadeo is proud of what they have accomplished throughout the year.
"Ang magandang accomplishment po talaga namin ay yung target talaga namin na mapababa ang fire incidents, bumaba talaga ng halos 30 percent. Ang increase din po ng fire code collection ay tumaas po," he added. (Our biggest accomplishment is we have reduced fire incidents by 30 percent. We have also increased our collection on the issuance of Fire Safety Certificate.)
During the ceremony, Tadeo and Bañacia awarded the outstanding firefighters who have saved lives of people in the region.
Some of them were from the Inabanga Fire Station who helped in the retrieval operations of 5 dead bodies during the clash between government troops and the Abu Sayyaf last April and from the Cebu City Fire Station who saved a man last July who tried to jump off the rooftop of Robinsons Galleria.
The said recognition ceremony aims to appreciate the effort done by the different fire stations of the region with the theme "Pagkilala sa natatanging paglilingkod ng mga makabagong bayani ng lipunan."
"You don't have to be dead to be a hero that is why we are recognizing you now are modern heroes," Supt. Vonrad Fernando Dobluis, Assistant Regional Director for Administration, said in his opening remarks .