EDITORIAL - Holiday fire alert

Air Force helicopters joined efforts to put out a fire that gutted about 500 homes and commercial structures in Quiapo, Manila yesterday. The fire, which started in a two-story house, left 1,000 families homeless.

It was one of three fires that broke out in Metro Manila yesterday. At past three p.m., another fire hit a residential area on Oroquieta street in Sta. Cruz, near the site of the Quiapo blaze. In Cubao, Quezon City, fire started at past noon in the power room on the 14th floor of the 18-story Aurora Tower.

It’s not summer or Fire Prevention Month, but the holiday season poses high risks of fires. The area in Quiapo that was gutted yesterday had also been hit by fires in December 1997 and again in December 2009. In December 2008, faulty electrical wiring was blamed for the fire that razed a decades-old orphanage in Paco, Manila, killing 28 people, 23 of them children.

In commercial areas, the bigger holiday crowds can make employees overlook fire safety measures. Holiday merrymaking can also lead to careless handling of lights and other electricity-powered devices.

Defective lights on a Christmas tree triggered the fire that spread through the second floor of the Makati home of then speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his wife Gina, killing their daughter KC a week before Christmas in 2004.

Fire officials have urged the public to have Christmas lights, especially old ones, checked first before these are draped on trees and walls. The public has also been urged to buy lights from reputable sources and connect them properly to avoid overloading or short circuits. Yesterday’s fires should encourage greater public awareness of fire safety.