Editorial

Fire-fighting force in crowded Dagupan

 

Fires, unlike certain native fruits, are not seasonal and are bound to break out anytime of either night or day. And most areas in the community conducive to fire are the crowded residential neighborhoods, especially the slums where squatters abound and where lighting at night is often provided by lighted candles; also in places cooking utensils commonly used are the dubious LPG tanks which are prone to explode, especially when they’re devoid of any safety device.
 

Fire seldom hits the commercial sector, save in rare cases of bankruptcy when the arsonist his own bodega often in the dead of night. And the fire razing one building to the ground could grow into a conflagration consuming the entire commercial center.

The recent incidence of fires breaking out in some parts of Metro Manila causing multiple deaths and property losses in the millions should be wake-up call to the authorities in this city now grown congested to critical levels resulting from the presence of three big universities, including a couple of maritime schools, and 4 crowd-drawing malls, all sitting in the limited space of the city proper.

The fire-fighting force in the city, admittedly under equipped, is fortunately supplemented by at least 3 privately-owned groups; the Chinese-owned volunteer brigade, PANDA, which has 3 fire-trucks; CSI band which owns 2 and Star Plaza Hotel, also 2.

The hearty-warming news is that the city fire department, now under new Marshall Manuel Manuel, has moved out of its former base in the over-crowded downtown center to an open space in the former Perez market at the west end of the Magsaysay bridge.

Marshall Manuel has also bared a program relevant to the Fire Prevention Month of March which he vowed to implement with his men.

This includes, among other things, an info drive to stir public awareness on what to do to prevent fires and what to do during a state of fire; periodic inspections of residential and boarding houses, including commercial buildings to see to it that the basic requirements for safety, like fire escapes, fire extinguishers, proper electric connections are faithfully complied with.

Fire drill among Manuel’s men is also expected to enhance their efficiency in fire fighting.