Mandaue firefighters warn versus grassfire

CEBU, Philippines — With the onset of dry season, the Mandaue City Fire Department is now undertaking measures to prevent fire incidence, especially the grassfires.

In a press conference, fire marshal Joel Abarquez said one of the reasons why grassfires often occur during summer is because of empty bottles being thrown on the grassy fields.

"Tungod sa kainit, molaya ang sagbot and then if naay mga botelya bitaw, mao na siya'y mo-magnify sa kainit nga maoy mo-cause sa initial combustion o pagkasunog,"Abarquez said.

However, Abarquez said "grassfire" in Mandaue is not alarming considering that there are only few grassy fields in the city.

"Ang ako lang i-advice so that malikayan na nato ang grassfire is, kung naa mo sa inyong balay, bisbisan gyud nato atong mga laya nga sagbot," Abarquez added.

According to Abarquez, fire alarms in the city have dwindled because they have been conducting seminars, training and workshops throughout the year.

Mandaue City's 27 barangays have already set up their own barangay fire brigades which have been a big help to them due to their lack of manpower.

These barangay fire brigades are now utilized as their force multipliers.

Even the big malls in the city also have their own fire brigades, said Abarquez.

They are also constantly conducting rekoreda in the barangays to constantly remind  the constituents on fire prevention while they also tap the church in their campaign for the people to be vigilant.

FEW CASES

In January this year, no fire alarm was recorded in Mandaue City. Three have been recorded for the month of February, but so far, for the month of March, no fire alarm has been recorded in the city yet.

Abarquez hopes that just like last year, there will be no more fire alarms to occur in the city this month which is also considered as the "Fire Prevention Month."

He said they have also noticed that most of the causes of fire in the city are the faulty electrical connections. He said these were the causes of the three fires that occurred in the city last month.

"We all know nga ang element sa sunog is heat, so gamay nalang nga saka sa temperature, mosilaub dayon ta," Abarquez said.

He also said there are at least 30 sitios in the different barangays in the city which are known as fire-prone areas.

Barangays Tipolo, Subangdaku, Looc and Opao each have three fire-prone sitios while Barangays  Umapad, Alang-alang and Tabok each have two.

These sitios are considered fire-prone areas because they are located in the interior portions of their barangays, wherein roads leading to these places are so narrow.

"Kung masunog man gani ning mga lugara, dako-dako gyud ni," Abarquez further warned. (FREEMAN)