The month of March is observed as Fire Prevention Month in the Philippines.
In line with this, a key fire official is asking people who are near any fire break-out to call their fire stations first before live streaming.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa PIA, Office of the Provincial Fire Marshal Operations Officer and Dauis Municipal Fire Marshal Fire Inspector 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 stressed.
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,” Jumawid said. (with a report from PIA Bohol)