By Franklin P. Gumapon
PAGADIAN CITY – “The thrust now of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is to establish a fire station in every municipality.”
This was disclosed by Supt. Edmundo F. Naraga, assistant regional director of BFP-9, in a media forum held here recently.
Naraga, however, said that putting up a fire station in every local government unit (LGU) requires a considerable amount, as each station must have firemen and at least one fire truck.
As of now, there are only 167 firemen assigned in Zamboanga del Sur with 13 fire trucks. The province has 26 towns and one city.
Provincial Fire Marshall Gerson S. Sisona also bared that these 13 fire trucks were distributed to the following LGUs: Pagadian City – 5, Molave – 2, Tukuran – 1, Aurora – 1, Ramon Magsaysay – 1, Margosatubig – 1, and Dinas-1.
The remaining 20 towns have no fire trucks yet.
With the BFP’s limited manpower and fire-fighting equipment, Sisona has called on the public to help prevent fire, as “fire prevention is everybody’s business and a year-round activity.”
The BFP is now spearheading the fire prevention month celebration with the theme, “Isulong ang Kaunlaran, Sunog ay Iwasan, Kaalaman at Pag-iingat ang Kailangan.”