BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP-CAR) underscored the importance of the creation of barangay fire brigades in the different parts of the region to help in suppressing fire incidents that may happen in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
Senior Superintendent Maria Sofia Mendoza, BFP-CAR regional director, said barangay fire brigades play a key role in suppressing fire incidents because their members are the first responders to any fire incident that may occur in their areas of jurisdiction, thus, it is very important for each barangay to organize their own barangay fire brigade for better response in the future.
“We want every barangay to have their own fire brigade so that we will have the necessary first responders during reported fire incidents in their barangays. We have to give credit to our first responders because they are the ones that play a key role in firefighting efforts region-wide,” Mendoza stressed.
The BFP-CAR official pointed out members of the barangay fire brigade are the frontliners in firefighting efforts before the arrival of firemen and fire trucks in the areas where fire incidents are reported.
She added if the distance of the fire from the nearest fire station will be 15 to 20 kilometers away, then fire trucks and personnel could not be in the area within the prescribed 7-minute response time that is why the presence of barangay fire brigades is necessary not only in populated barangays but also in remote villages region-wide.
According to her, BFP-CAR personnel will provide the interested members of barangay fire brigades the appropriate training to capacitate them as effective and efficient first responders to fire incidents that happen anytime in their places, especially now that it is the onset of summer when fire incidents may happen anytime.
Mendoza urged barangay officials to closely coordinate with the nearest municipal, city or provincial fire stations to signify their interest in organising or reactivating their barangay fire brigade so that their constituents can be trained as frontline fire responders.
While the BFP-CAR is working out the put up of municipal fire stations in the 75 towns and 7 provinces of the region, Mendoza claimed it is also important for the barangay officials of the more than 1,000 barangays in the region to tap the services of able-bodied residents as part of their barangay fire brigades to help in suppressing structural or grass fires that may occur anytime in their areas of jurisdiction.
The BFP wants to make sure that all municipalities in the different parts of the region will have their own fire stations in the future once the said local governments shall have donated to the agency the required lots where the fire stations will be constructed for better firefighting in the countryside.
By Dexter A. See