Seminars, Fire Olympics to highlight Taguig Fire Prevention Month
The city government of Taguig is set to embark on an extensive information campaign aimed at arming its citizens with updated knowledge on fire prevention, safety and response in time for the observation of Fire Prevention Month this March.
“As with every celebration of Fire Prevention Month, we want to impart to the constituency the importance of knowing what and what not to do when a blaze hits a community. And all this knowledge should be accompanied by discipline pegged toward prevention,” Mayor Lani Cayetano said.
Mayor Lani said the theme of Fire Prevention Month this year would be “Sunog at Sakuna Paghandaan, Kalikasan ay Pangalagaan nang Matamasa ang Pag-unlad ng Bayan.”
The activities lined up include the 2nd Mayor Lani Cayetano Inter-Barangay Fire Olympics and the “Barangay Ugnayan” for both District I and II, which will be conducted through the combined efforts of the Taguig City government and the local Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
According to Taguig Fire Marshall Junito Maslang, the ultimate purpose of these activities is to strengthen camaraderie and cooperation between the BFP personnel and various barangay fire brigades.
“These activities also aim to raise their level of preparedness and proficiency as our partners in suppressing all destructive fires and other emergencies both man-made and natural in the city of Taguig,” he said.
According to local firefighters, fire victims usually turn into “fire hazards” during their operations since instead of helping, they inadvertently make the situation worse.
A good example is when the victims and their neighbors turn into kibitzers who clog the streets, making it difficult for fire trucks to reach the heart of the blaze.
What’s worse is that when the people don’t even know the telephone number of the nearest fire station, they said.
The BFP intends to address this problem with the holding of a “Barangay Ugnayan”, a seminar on basic fire safety. Representatives from barangays in District I will be lectured on March 14, while those from District II will be subjected to the same seminar on March 15.
The Taguig City Hall Auditorium will serve as the venue for Barangay Ugnayan.
Meanwhile, the Fire Olympics, to be held from March 20 to 21 at the Taguig City Baseball Stadium in Barangay Ususan, will feature various games that put fire response skills to the fore.
These include the Rescue and Transfer Relay (tests skills in transferring a victim’s body), Fire Extinguishment (tests skills in using a fire extinguisher), Bucket Relay (dubbed as the oldest form of firefighting; it is race to fill up a tank with 50 gallons of water) and Tug-of-war (tests strength and teamwork).
Prizes and awards will be given out to the winners during Fire Prevention Month’s Culminating Ceremony on March 31.
Maslang also thanked Mayor Cayetano for donating four blinkers last January. Used in tandem with sirens, these blinkers serve as visual warning for the public that fire trucks are on their way to respond to an ongoing fire.
Aside from a 2000-gallon tanker, he said Taguig BFP now has five functioning fire trucks with the turnover of an Austrian-made Rosenbauer TLF 4000 fire truck this week by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).