Admin, requesting permission to post: MEDIA BULLETIN March 24, 2014 ROXAS: ADDITIONAL FIRE TRUCKS, FIRE STATIONS TO BE GEO-LOCATED FOR FASTER RESPONSE TIME To ensure faster response time in case of fire, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) had sought the help of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST)to identify areas where fire stations are best constructed to ensure faster response time. DILG Secretary Mar Roxas said there are 554 municipalities and one city that still have no fire trucks. There are also about 14,000 firefighters equipped with firefighting skills but shortages in equipment and firefighting gear remains a problem. The DILG chief said these challenges are currently being addressed by the DILG. With a budget of P4 billion this year, more than half of the problem in terms of shortage in the number of fire stations and fire trucks, as well shortage in firefighting equipment and firefighting gear such as helmets, boots, trousers, and even forcible entry tools, will be addressed. Roxas said because of the shortage of fire trucks and fire stations, firefighters have difficulty preventing fire from spreading in certain areas. With such gaps, he said that there are certain municipalities which are currently without any fire fighting capability. This means that the nearest fire station with fire trucks will not reach a municipality without fire-fighting capability – or without its own fire truck or fire stations –within the internationally accepted period for fire response. In areas where there are many fire stations with fire trucks, the response time is faster. Roxas wants the response time to be reduced to comply with the internationally accepted response time of just six minutes, at most, to effectively prevent fire from spreading. “Ang gusto natin ay i-geo-locate angpagbibigayng fire trucks at pagtatayong fire stations paramapabilisang response time. Gusto natinna from 12 minutes, maging 6 minutes langang response time from the time namaitawag o maipagbigay-alamangsunog,” he said. According to Roxas, this year the DILG is eyeing to buy more than 300 fire trucks and construct the number of corresponding fire stations after Pres. Aquino approved the release a budget of P3.6 billion for the purpose. With the acquisition of the more than 300 fire trucks, about 63 per cent of the problem in terms of shortage or lack of fire trucks in some municipalities are solved. The DILG chief is confident that by the end of the year, with the proper distribution of additional fire trucks and fire stations, the whole country will sufficiently be capable to fight fire, and by 2016, all 1,490 municipalities and all the 144 cities will have at least one fire truck and fire stations with at least 14 highly-trained firefighters assigned to each fire station to effectively prevent disastrous fire, in conformity with international standards. ###
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 08:27:34 +0000
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