The Baguio Fire Department recently reported that fire incidents from April to August this year increased by 15.38 percent compared to similar incidents that transpired during the same period last year.
From the 13 fire incidents that transpired in the city from April to August last year, the same increased to 15 fire incidents for the same period this year that reflected the percentage of increase.
Baguio City Marshal Fire Superintendent Nestor Gorio stated that arson investigations on these incidents showed that the major causes of fire incidents in the city are due to unattended cooking, overheated home appliances, overloading of electrical, wirings among others.
Further, the city fire marshal claimed there was also a significant increase in the number of establishments inspected by the personnel of the Baguio Fire Department during the period.
Gorio stipulated that from January to August this year, there were some 3,007 establishments found to have been issued the required fire safety inspection certificates compared to only 2,487 inspected establishments with the same certificates last year.
However, Gorio reported that the emergency responses of the local firefighters dropped by 12.17 percent from January to August this year compared to the same period the last year.
According to him, local firefighters responded to 166 emergency calls compared to the 189 emergency cases during the previous year.
Gorio encouraged the public to take part in the Baguio Fire Department’s (BFD) fire safety campaign to prevent the occurrence of fire incidents.
“We encourage every Cordilleran and everyone in our city to fight against fire. Let us all practice fire safety,” Gorio stressed.
The BFP official expressed the department’s appreciation to the city government for the continued support and understanding to the current situation of the fire department.
He assured that the support being provided by the city will be cascaded through better service to the city’s 128 barangays.
