GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/02 March) — Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) personnel will launch this week a “house-to-house” information and awareness campaign on fire prevention and safety in connection with the observance of the Fire Prevention Month.
Chief Insp. Nailyn Belonio, city fire marshall, said Monday they have scheduled visits to various communities within the city’s 26 barangays for the conduct of trainings, seminars and other related information and education activities on fire prevention and safety.
She said the initiative aims to further raise the awareness of local residents on appropriate fire safety practices and prevention measures.
“We will distribute fliers on important fire safety tips to every household and briefly talk to them about it,” she said in an interview over Brigada News TV.
Belonio said they will also intensify their fire truck visibility campaign in areas that are considered as fire-prone.
She specifically cited crowded residential communities and commercial zones as well as areas that had history of major fire incidents.
“We will deploy our fire trucks and at the same time educate people on fire safety practices and prevention measures,” she said.
The official said it is important for local residents to be aware of proper fire safety practices and related measures to prevent the occurrence of fire-related incidents, especially during the summer season.
In the last two month, local BFP personnel already recorded a total of 85 structural and grass fires in the area.
The latest structural fire was recorded on Thursday last week at Villegas Village in Barangay San Isidro.
The incident, which was declared by BFP to have been caused by electrical short circuit, involved a boarding house that hosts six families.
In terms of grass fires, the agency already recorded around 70 incidents in the area since January.
On Saturday, a major grass fire at the city international airport triggered the closure of its runway for several hours.
A BFP report said the incident started at around 11 am at a portion of the airport compound and spread rapidly due to strong winds and atmospheric temperature of 35.6 degrees Celsius.
At around 1 p.m., it said local Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines personnel temporarily closed down the airport’s runway due to poor visibility. It was reopened at 2:20 p.m. (MindaNews)