CEBU CITY, Philippines –With fire occurrences becoming a common problem in Cebu City, its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) decided to create an advisory council that will formulate regulations for the protection of emergency responders including the fire volunteers.
Ramil Ayuman, the CDRRMO officer-in-charge, said that the volunteers, especially, are not prepared to respond to fire occurrences that may involve the risk of heavy metal poisoning.
Ayuman said the creation of the advisory council was decided following the fire incident that was reported in a hotel along General Maxilom Avenue on Thursday, October 15, that was believed to have been caused by a lithium battery.
Lithium, just like lead, is a harmful substance that can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, breathing pain, loose bowel movement, and brown urine when inhaled.
Senior Fire Officer 2 Romeo Birao Jr. told CDN Digital that the city’s firefighters were well protected when they responded to the fire alarm because they had complete protective equipment.
But the fire volunteers were faced with the risk of lithium poisoning because of their lack of protective equipment.
“Ang among firefighters sa BFP walay problema. Ang among gikabalak-an kay ang sa mga volunteers kay naa bayay nisulod didto gyod sa area nya nakasinghot unya sila,” said Birao.
(We do not have problems with the firefighters from BFP. But our concern is on the safety of the volunteers because they went into the fire site [without protective equipment].)
As of Saturday, October 17, Birao said that he has not heard of fire volunteers reporting symptoms of lithium poisoning. But he is asking them to immediately seek medical assistance if they are unwell.
Officials of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is appealing for the city government to give all of the city’s fire volunteers with breathing apparatus to ensure their safety and mitigate the risk of chemical poisoning.
Ayuman said that the safety of all of the city’s emergency responders is a priority.
“CDRRMO is creating an advisory council composed of the Fire Department, ERUF, Red Cross, and Association of Barangay Fire Brigade to come up with protocol in responding [to] fire [alarms],” he said. / dcb