In commemoration of the 2023 Fire Prevention Month, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said it will conduct a nationwide simultaneous fire drill in all of the country’s 81 SM Malls on March 13.
The BFP said the undertaking in collaboration with its partner SM aims to raise public awareness and readiness in case of “possible fire emergency.’’
In a statement, the BFP noted that the highlight for the drill will be at the SM City North EDSA where an earthquake and fire simulation will be held at 8:30 a.m. on March 13.
The drill will replicate a scenario of “a 7.8 magnitude with intensity 8 earthquake’’ that will hit Metro Manila on the said time and date.
The storyline shows that “Quezon City was severely damaged’’ by the tremor with some structures like SM City North EDSA compound incurring damages with other “buildings already collapsed.’’
In the prepared script, the BFP bared that some roads around SM are full of debris from the damaged structures which are impassable to all kinds of vehicles with access only to North Avenue.
“Communication and power lines are totally cut and generators are the only available source for electricity. There were reported15 evacuees who converged to their designated assembly area,’’ the BFP noted.
The scene will also have four missing/trapped persons, five injured individuals with “deformities, open wounds, tenderness/swelling’’ and no dead victim with the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (DRRMC) advising the public to prepare for aftershocks.
The BFP lamented that it had prepared a dramatization where the “full force of the Quezon City Fire District was immediately mobilized to respond to include the Special Rescue Force (SRF), Taurus North EMS Team, and firefighting teams from Agham, Project 6, Ramon Magsaysay and Bahay Toro Fire Sub-station.’’ (Chito A. Chavez)