In the line of fire
Firefighters Also Victims of Low Budget

They are seen in big mobilizations on top of fire trucks, ready to hose down protesters at the command of their superiors. Firefighters, however, are also plagued with problems not of their making, but of the Arroyo administration’s fiscal policies. Analyzing their plight, one realizes that firefighters have something in common with other underpaid and overworked government employees.

By Aubrey SC Makilan
Bulatlat

Firefighters are said to be inefficient in putting out fires due to poor equipment and human resources, leading observers to quip that their only efficiency is in dispersing protesters with their water cannons.

Chief Inspector Renato Marcial, head of the Public Information Services of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), said that there are even fire stations that do not have fire trucks. Worse, there are areas in the country that do not have fire stations.

Human resources

The BFP is said to be “responsible for the prevention and suppression of all destructive fires on buildings, houses, and other structures, forests, land transportation vehicles and equipment, ships or vessels docked at piers or wharves or anchored in major seaports, petroleum industry installations, plane crashes and other similar incidents, as well as the enforcement of the Fire Code.”

Marcial admitted that many firefighters get demoralized when people blame them for slow response or when ire hoses are grabbed from them.

He said that before rushing to the scene, there is a need to verify first the call to avoid being victimized by crank calls. Although the response time should be about five to six minutes from receiving the report, factors like slow traffic or narrow streets should also be considered.

Ideal

The ideal number of firefighters for a fire truck is 14 who will work in two shifts. Marcial admitted that most of the time, only five firefighters could work in one shift because of shortage in human resources.

In cases when there are vacant positions, Marcial said they immediately ask the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to allow them to hire new personnel. Unfortunately. Marcial said that the DBM usually turns down their request due to the Arroyo administration’s financial problems.

A firefighter with the position Fire Officer 1 currently earns P6,200 ($121.14, based on an exchange rate of P51.18 per US dollar).

Based on December 2005 records, the BFP has 14,995 personnel nationwide. According to the BFP, its number of personnel should be 22,586.

As stated, a fire truck needs 14 firefighters. Given that there are 1,203 serviceable fire trucks, 17,220 should be deployed in these trucks. There should also be 10 firefighters in each of its 67 ambulances, another 2,583 for safety enforcement, and 1,973 for case investigation. At present, there are only 12,259 actual firefighters. According to the BFP, there should be 10,237 more firefighters. (The breakdown of the BFP data, however, does not add up to the stated total requirement of 22,586.)

Lack of equipment

As if the lack of human resources is not enough, firefighters are also plagued with the lack of protective gear.

Around P500,000 ($9,769.44) is necessary for each fire fighter to have a complete set of protective gear consisting of a helmet, coat, gloves, boots and breathing apparatus.

Because of financial problems, the BFP has opted to buy only used equipment from Makati City and Subic, Zambales which only cost from P100,000 to P200,000 ($1,953.89 to $3,907.78).

In 2005, 799 out of 1,612 municipalities in the country did not have any fire truck. These are usually low-class municipalities where houses are far from each other, said Marcial. Even then, there should be at least one fire truck per municipality, he said. At present, there are only 1,230 fire trucks.

Marcial added that based on BFP standards, there should be a fire truck for every 28,000 people. But even Marcial admitted that the presence of a fire truck should be on a per area basis, taking into account the number of establishments present. This, he said, is the system in developed countries like Hong Kong. With this per area basis, Marcial said responding would be much quicker.

Meanwhile, only 668 fire stations have their own buildings or structures. Of these, 462 are owned by local governments.

Funding

All these shortages could be resolved if there is adequate funding, said Marcial.

But even the BFP is not exempted from the financial constraints most agencies are suffering from. For this year, the BFP stands to get only P3.6 billion ($70.34 million) if the national budget in 2005 were reenacted.

For Marcial, this is not enough for the planned modernization of the agency.

For a fire truck alone, each would cost them about P5 million to P6 million ($97,694.41 to $117,233.29) already. The breathing apparatus which costs P140,000 ($2,735.44) each set is not given due priority.

To augment its budget, the BFP is proposing to get 10 percent of fire code fees paid by those who apply for a business permit. At present, the BFP gives a recommendation to operate based on a structure’s adherence to their safety measures. The fire code fees are directly remitted to the national treasury.

Aside from this problem, Marcial admitted that one of their problems is the palakasan (patronage) system where the buildings and other structures they recommended not fit for operation get approved by the local government. He said that there have been many incidents where the mayor was charged with criminal and administrative cases after the structures without safety permit got burned.

Among these violations were the absence of emergency lighting system in times of black out, incorrect fire exit, and shortage in fire fighting equipment like fire extinguishers. And many government establishments are involved in these violations, Marcial added.

Fire safety practice

Although there shortfalls, Marcial said they are trying to respond to these by making the people aware about fire.

Aside from private firefighting groups like the Chinese Fire Volunteers Brigade, they train volunteers in barangays not only to respond in times of fire incidents in their places but to be able to prevent fire as well.

Based on BFP’s records, negligence is one of the common causes of fire which should have been prevented. Among these are unattended lighted candles and incorrect electrical connections. In 2005, 7,245 cases of fire were accidental while only 256 were intentional.

And because BFP believes that fire is everyone’s concern, it formally launched its Junior Fire Marshal last January 2006. This project was inspired by two separate cases of children who have saved their parents’ lives during the fire incidents. This aims to teach school children fire safety practices and at the same time, recruit them as fire prevention officers of their place after proper trainings have been accomplished.

A memorandum of agreement (MoA) has been signed between the agency and the Department of Education (DepEd) to include this in the students’ curriculum.

“Kapag naging fire safety practitioner na sila, tataas ang level of consciousness nila tungkol sa sunog,” (Once they become fire safety practitioners, their level of consciousness with regard to fires will increase.) he said. Bulatlat

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