The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) was quick to respond when a blaze of fire and smoke broke out on Monday, May 2 at a residential area within the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman Campus.
“Napakahalaga ng emergency response unit at emergency medical services sa mga komunidad (The emergency response unit and emergency medical services are very important to the communities),” said PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon.
“Ang Red Cross ay laging handa para rumesponde sa mga kalamidad katulad ng sunog (The Red Cross is always ready to respond to disasters such as fire, ”Chairman Gordon said),” Gordon added.
Gordon immediately directed the PRC Operations Center to deploy PRC’s firefighters and emergency medical services team to Village A of the UP compound in Quezon City as reports of fire started coming in around 5:20 am.
PRC quickly dispatched one fire truck with four trained firefighters and one ambulance unit with three emergency medical responders.
The local fire bureau estimates that about 80 houses were damaged, with about 250 families affected.
The families who lost their homes were evacuated to temporary shelters at the Village A and B covered court.
Related to this, the PRC teams are currently conducting assessments and will be deploying its food trucks to provide hot meals to the affected families.