Firemen work to put out a fire that broke out in Barangay Calamba, Cebu City, past 2 a.m. on Friday, July 29, 2022. | Photo from Cebu City Fire Office FB
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is with the belief that fires can be prevented.
In an interview on Saturday, Rama said fires are “not insurmountable, but manageable.”
With this, the mayor said that he is set to issue a new Executive Order (EO) that would identify the city’s action plans to reduce, if not prevent, fires from happening here.
“I am already having an executive order draft…again. [This time], the focus is preemptive reblocking. Number 2, not only preemptive reblocking, [but] also, household creation of fire brigades. Every house should be fire conscious,” he told reporters in an interview after he delivered a speech during the celebration of Eid’l Fitr by the local Muslim community in Plaza Independencia on Saturday, April 22.
Rama said funding would not be a problem in the implementation of his anti-fire measures.
“We have a budget. P50 billion gud na ato gi-approve [nga annual budget]. Anything that would augment that would bring us more [capabilities] in [the] management of all these challenges [fire incidents],” he said.
Rama also gave the assurance that he would ensure the convergence of different agencies, including the barangays, as he identifies the “best measures” that the city could adopt to prevent fires, especially in densely populated areas.
Sought for an update on the city’s promise to help the Bureau of Fire Protection acquire additional equipment that would boost its firefighting capabilities especially in high-rise structures, Rama said the city is willing to provide “anything that would augment” the BFP’s capabilities.
This may include the purchase of a helicopter or barge or even an amphibious fire rescue vehicle, he said.
“We’re talking about barge. Ang [the idea of having a] barge, niadto pa na. Kataw-an ko nila. Barge nga mo automatically rescue vehicle, the amphibians, kay whether we like it or not, we are now going up [developing],” he told reporters.
Last week, at least three separate fire incidents were reported in Cebu City. These were in barangays Kasambagan, Pit-os, and Mambaling, which displaced hundreds of families and caused the destruction of millions worth of properties.
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