CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City council will ask the Department of Trade and Industry in Central Visayas (DTI-7) to intensify its inspection and monitoring campaign against counterfeit wire products in hard wares and stores in the city to reduce fire occurrences in the city.
In his privilege speech during the city council’s regular session on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, Councilor Pastor Alcover, Jr. said electrical ignitions, due to various causes, such as the use of pinched wires, are among the common causes of fire in the city.
Alcover quoted a report from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP). Alcover is also the chairman of the Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship.
He furthered that based on the same BFP report, the top causes of these electrical ignitions are overloading (13 cases this year); arcing (14 incidents in 2022); loose connections (8 incidents in 2022), and the use of counterfeit wires, which has logged five incidents this year.
“Perhap, it is debatable to identify the proximate and ultimate causes of electrical ignitions that caused structural fires, pero mas maayo na lang siguro masayop subay sa pag-amping kumpara sa atong isugat ang seguridad batok sa sunog,” he said.
More fire incidents
The councilor also brought up the possible conduct of intensified information campaign by various concerned agencies on the danger and disadvantages of patronizing cheaper yet fake wires.
Meanwhile, in an earlier report from the BFP, the bureau said it has noted a 21-percent increase in the number of fire incidents in Central Visayas from January to March 2022 as compared to the same period of last year.
The BFP 7’s Regional Operations Division reported 273 fire occurrences during the first quarter of 2022, up from only 226 fire fires regionally recorded during the first quarter of 2021.
/bmjo
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