DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 March) — Fire incidents in the Davao Region last year were mostly caused by electrical overload, fire inspector Nestor Jimenez of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 11 said Monday.
He said in a media forum here that of the 462 fire incidents in 2012 in the region, 192 of them were caused by electrical wiring, mostly overloading.
Overall, the city had the highest number of fire incidents with 197, 104 of which were due to electrical overload, he said.
Among the provinces, according to a report shown by Jimenez, Davao del Norte had the highest number of fire incidents with 106, 32 of which were caused by electrical overload.
The report said Davao del Sur had 76 fire incidents with 31 caused by electrical overload; Davao Oriental with 43 fire incidents, seven caused by electrical overload; and, Compostela Valley had 40 fire incidents, 18 caused by electrical overload.
Jimenez said of the total fire incidents in the region last year, 83 were caused by open flame or cooking; 53 by unknown sources; 19 by combustible materials or bonfire; 12 by LPG tanks/stove; 11 by cigarette butts; six by flammable liquids; three by fireworks/explosives/sparks; and 83 by other causes such as burned electrical posts.
He cited that from January to February this year there were fire 55 incidents 68 incidents for the same period last year.
But the total cost of damage caused by fires from January to February this year was higher, P40.614 million, compared to only P29.955 million for the same period in 2012.
Jimenez explained that the fire incidents this year hit many big establishments, including the Dimdi Appliance Center at San Pedro Street where properties worth P3 million were damaged. (Lorie Ann Cascaro/MindaNews)
