Glan fire office trains volunteers

By BEVERLY C. PAOYON

GLAN, Sarangani (March 24, 2014) – In a bid to inculcate a sense of volunteerism in safeguarding communities against any fire-related incidences, fire fighting personnel in Glan organized and trained a volunteer fire brigade on Saturday (March 22).

This is the second batch this year that has been trained specifically on quick response.

Municipal fire marshal officer-in-charge Senior Fire Officer ll Celso Emnace said the activity was aimed at encouraging active involvement of the community in responding to fire incidents being an “individual’s responsibility to serve and protect lives.”

He said organizing a volunteer group is a good strategy to complement the manpower requirement in the municipality.

But he also pointed out the need to equip them in quick response particularly in extinguishing fire.

Only four cases of fire incidents had been recorded in 2013 and one case was reported this year in far-flung barangay Baliton in Glan.

With an empowered community, he said, organizing fire volunteer brigades would greatly help in lessening fire occurrences and casualties.

Emnace also said the activity formed part of their lined-up activities in observance of the Fire Prevention Month which is anchored on the theme “Isulong ang Kaunlaran, Sunog ay Iwasan, Kaalaman at Pag-iingat ay Kailangan.”

Every March is declared as Fire Prevention Month by virtue of Proclamation No. 360 and Proclamation 115-A supporting the need to “disseminate knowledge in the field of burn prevention and to enhance education in all phases of burn care is of utmost importance.” (Beverly C. Paoyon/ SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)