Cebu City fire chief to fire station chiefs: Intensify fire safety info drive

Cebu City Fire Marshall Noel Ababon is concerned about the fires that hit Cebu this month — four fires in six days. | Photo by Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Intensify the information dissemination on fire safety among the barangays.

Cebu City Fire Marshall Noel Ababon said this as he expressed concern about the four succeeding fire incidents in six days from February 3 to February 8.

Ababon said that the Bureau of Fire Protection would also launch in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City their OPLAN Handang Pamayanan on February 14, which is a series of programs to encourage fire safety, 

He said this would jumpstart the movement for fire-ready city, two weeks before the Fire Safety Month on March.

Ababon said the OPLAN Handang Pamayanan would involve educating the the public on hazard identification, hazard mitigation or elimination, and tactical defense in the case of fire.

The BFP would also conduct hazard mapping in Cebu City to identify the areas most likely prone to fire.

Part of this hazard mapping would be identifying the households with defects in the electrical wirings since most fires in Cebu City were caused by faulty wirings.

Ababon said with the launching of Oplan Handang Pamayanan, the city would be more prepared for fires in the future especially as the summer being just around the corner.

The BFP would also conduct hazard mapping in Cebu City to identify the areas most likely prone to fire.

Part of this hazard mapping would be identifying the households with defects in the electrical wirings since most fires in Cebu City had been caused by faulty wirings.

Ababon said he was hoping that with the launching of the Oplan Handang Pamayanan, the city would be more prepared for fires in the future especially with summer fast approaching.

“Ang atong goal gyod kay sa mga barangays ug communities maandam sila sa sunog,” said Ababon.

On more fire drills asked by city officials, Ababon said that they had been constantly conducting fire drills in establishments.

He admitted that they had tried multiple times to conduct barangay-wide fire drills in the past years but were deterred by the elections such as the barangay elections.

“We don’t want politicians to use our programs for their campaigns,” said Ababon.

Ababon said that they had been planning to conduct more drills in the barangays especially among those that were identified to be in the fire hazard areas./dbs