The country’s over 300,000 fire volunteers in the country should be anti-illegal drug ambassadors at the grassroots level aside from performing their usual firefighting and emergency disaster response duties, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur’’ Abalos Jr. stressed on Tuesday, August 13.
During the launching of the recent “BIDA Ka Sa Fire Square Roadshow,’’ Abalos highlighted the importance of the over 300,000 fire volunteers for providing the much needed manpower support to the short-handed 32,000 BFP firefighters during fire incidents and emergency cases.
“This is how you define heroes. Mga bayani kayo sapagkat sa tuwing may sunog, habang papalayo ang nakararami, kayo naman sinusuong ninyo upang iligtas ang buhay at mga ari-arian. Bayani ang mga volunteer firefighters at mga bumbero (You are heroes because during fire incidents while most are running away from the scene, in contrast you are running towards it, putting your selves at risk to save lives and properties. Volunteer firefighters and firemen are heroes),’’ Abalos stated.
In a recent meeting with President Ferdinand “Bongbong’’ Marcos Jr., Abalos related that an inventory uncovered that about 200 local government units (LGUs) have no fire trucks and fire stations.
Abalos, however, said that the number was trimmed down to more than 100 in one year, with every island in the country expected to have fire trucks and fire stations within the year.
With the assistance of the President and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Abalos noted that the release of the budget from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was facilitated for the purchase of a helicopter without having to wait for two years.
Stressing its urgency, Abalos asserted that purchasing the helicopter with buckets will assist the BFP firemen and the volunteer firefighters reach the narrow, secluded and hard to reach locations of the fire scenes without much difficulty.
He added that the Philippines is the only country in Asia, “ASEAN’’ region, with no helicopter for fire fighting use, adding that “hopefully’’ before the end of the year this issue will be resolved.
“The BIDA Ka sa Fire Square Roadshow showcased a culture of community safety, security, and health. Booths displayed emergency and rescue equipment, and offered attendees a chance to try out activities like rappelling and the use of fire extinguishers,’’ the DILG explained.
The DILG revealed that more than 5,000 participants attended the activity, composed of local chief executives (LCE), local disaster risk reduction and management officers, barangay DRRM council members, Sangguniang Kabataan officials and barangay tanods.