DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 August) – The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) here has recorded a total of 436 fire incidents in the city from January to August 2023, up 29.38 percent from the 337 incidents reported in the same period last year.
Senior Fire Officer 4 Ramil Gillado, spokesperson for the Davao City Fire District, told MindaNews that many of these fire incidents took place in residential areas, caused mainly by electrical short circuit while other incidents involved unsupervised children.
The damage caused by the fires was estimated at P50 million this year, which is a bit lower than last year’s P52 million, he said.
He said the BFP-Davao reported six deaths due to fire incidents, including a woman who was trapped in her room while a fire engulfed the houses in Barangay San Antonio, at R. Castillo Street in Agdao District recently.
“In previous incidents, there were children involved. That’s why, we are reminding even the children what they should do to avoid fire. We can still remember that fire incident along (Quezon) Boulevard where children started a fire under a house, which quickly spread to nearby houses,” he said.
Gillado said that educating the children is among the activities included in the fire prevention program of BFP-Davao City.
He said the agency also recorded a few incidents of grass fires and utility poles catching fires due to lightning strikes.
“For grass fires, we can say that these might have been triggered by the hot weather. Our grasses have become so dried that can easily be ignited when you throw a cigarette butt,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)