By Rey Anthony Chiu | 10:25 AM March 15, 2023
For the Fire Prevention Month, a key fire official asks people who are near any fire break-out, call your fire stations first before live streaming.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa PIA, Office of the Provincial Fire Marshal Operations Officer and Dauis Fire Marshal Fire Inspector Servando Jumawid and Fire Officer 1 Gian Paolo Dolotina explained that even if firefighters try to be there at that critical time when a fire breaks, they can’t beat that if they do not know of the fire incident until it is posted on social media.
The first five minutes after a fire breaks is the most critical time when firefighters have to be there, or before the fire can raze into an uncontrollable monster that licks everything it touches.
Within this time, when a fire fighting team arrives, the chances of controlling the fire is relatively bigger, getting there few minutes later reduces that chance of saving the razing property.
But, instead of getting the information to the nearest fire station, Inspector Jumawid said people just simply snap on their cameras and stream live without first informing the fire station.
In the instance that the fire breaks in building made of light materials, the response time is drastically reduced, and then with a fire truck that can only sustain a few minutes of extinguishing the fire by hosing, odds pile up against the firefighters.
We see it as a problem, which delays the response time, Jumawid bemoaned.
Moreover, he added that as soon as they get the call, they have to coordinate with the local police to mobilize and secure the fire scene and its nearby areas, especially when the fire victims try to salvage things they can still retrieve from the fire scene.
“What is sad is that without the police securing the place considering that firemen are just enough to man the fire engine and the hose, opportunistic individuals also steal what has been salvaged, adding to the victim’s already sad plight,” Insp. Jumawid said.
It is always an operation in tandem: police secure the fire scene and allow the fire fighters to get a good place to operate their equipment.
And while the firemen are beset with this possible snag in their operation, both firefighters at the radio forum on the air agree that having a working fire extinguisher can be a game changer on the fight against fires.
Having a fire extinguisher and knowing how to use it, especially during the early stage of the fire, can solve the problem.
PASS, Inspector Jumawid said.
Pass means pull the fire extinguisher pin, aim the nozzle at the base of the fire, squeeze the lever to release the fire retardants and spray the chemical to the base of fire, he reminded.
This month, the Bureau of Fire would be having open house in their stations and allow the public to see and learn about firefighting, get oriented of the fire fighting equipment and do fire drills.
All of this, to help impress on the idea that “Sa pag-iwas sa sunog, hindi ka nag-iisa,” FO1 Dolotina bared. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
