‘Offense, defense needed in putting out fires’

Personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Central Visayas hold a motorcade to open the annual observance of Fire Prevention Month this March along Osmeña Boulevard.
(CDN Photo/Christian Maningo)

Just like in sports and warfare, the Cebu City Fire Station also employ offensive and defensive methods in fire fighting.

“The reason why people perceive us to be playing favorites when it comes to putting out fires is because we conduct both offensive and defensive fire fighting and it is dependent on the area,” said Chief Insp. Rogelio Bongabong Jr., Cebu City fire marshal.

Bongabong said this as the country marks Fire Prevention Month in March starting yesterday.

Bongabong said offensive fire fighting is done when the fire scene is accessible to them.

Procedures
Defensive fire fighting is employed when the area is inaccessible to their fire trucks, he said.

“If there are complications, like they have some difficulty in entering the place or if they don’t have sufficient water supply, then we resort to defensive fire fighting like soaking the surrounding area with water to prevent the fire from spreading,” he said.

“That must be the reason why we are accused of playing favorites. They don’t know about our procedures,” Bongabong said. The regional Bureau Of Fire Protection (BFP) held a Walk for a Fire-Free Nation at 5 a.m. followed by a motorcade of about 500 volunteers, including the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade and the barangay fire brigades.

A Mass was held at the BFP regional office at 9 a.m. This month’s theme is “Kaligtasan Sa Sunog: Alamin, Gawin at Isabuhay Natin.”

“We sound like a broken record but we are committed to raising fire safety awareness among Cebu City residents. It should start with each person,” Bongabong said.

Fire safety tips include keeping children away from flammable materials, checking on the state of electrical wiring and refraining from overstocking on matches, candles and other flammable materials.