CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City Health Department and Cebu City Fire Office are appealing to the public not to use firecrackers this Christmas.
Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, the head of the Cebu City Health Department (CHD), said that aside from firecrackers being fire hazards, the lack of running water in households also make it difficult to immediately treat burns and injuries.
“Among hangyo, di nalang gyod magpabuto. Delikado kaayo kay basin magkasunog napud nuon ta,” said Ibones.
(We plead to avoid firecrackers. It’s very dangerous because it may cause fires.)
Chief Inspector Josephus Alburo, the director of the Cebu City Fire also appealed to the public to forego using firecrackers this year.
“Dili lang gyod ta magpabuto kay daghan kaayog mga debris karon nga wala pa naclear na maka cause og sunog,” said Alburo.
(Let’s just avoid firecrackers because there are a lot of debris that are not cleared yet that may start a fire.)
Alburo also noted that the firetrucks are busy attending to those areas in the city that do not have water supply at the moment due to the damage done by super typhoon Odette last December 16, 2021.
The city continues to struggle for water since electricity has also yet to stabilize a week past the category 5 typhoon.
Alburo said that once a fire alarm is raised, firetrucks will immediately be pulled out and brought to the fire site, which means residents will be left without water.
He also urged the public not to burn dry leaves or cut trees because this, too, can cause a fire or can give a false alarm to fire stations that are busy attending to the public.
/bmjo
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