An Assessment of the Problems Encountered by the Bureau of Fire Protection in relation to the Suppression of Fire in Pasig City
Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION The Bureau of Fire Protection is an agency of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) responsible for implementing national policies related to Firefighting and fire prevention as well as implementation of the Philippine Fire Code (PD 1185), which has been repealed and replaced by the New Fire Code of the Philippines (RA 9514). Formerly known as the Integrated National Police Fire Service, the BFP is in charge of the administration and management of municipal and city fire and emergency services all over the country. The BFP also conducts programs regarding the prevention of fire to lessen the rate of fire in our country. Fire safety and prevention is everyone's responsibility and therefore we all must know how to go about doing these things. It is important to have a basic understanding about how a fire occurs and behaves within a building. The personnel of Bureau of Fire Protection are on duty 24/7. Fire is one of the calamities that you can’ t simply predict, it may happen at any time of the day or even late at night and that is why we have the BFP. But before they take any course of action, there are a lot of preparations that must be first addressed and that is to prepare the equipment needed to fight fire.
Fire equipment like fire trucks, hose, ladders, water and access to fire hydrants or other necessary resources are vital in suppressing or preventing a fire. Fire equipment is the main help for firefighters to put out a fire. But a fire doesn’t occur every day, without anyone knowing it may happen unexpectedly. With this, we can ask, is the BFP prepared in case of emergency? There are a lot of fire incident wherein the BFP did not have enough water to put out a fire. This is one of the events that bring into question the level of preparedness of the BFP, their personnel and equipment or other resources in case of emergency. Being prepared is one thing but there are also other problems to be addressed.
Ideally, BFP should commendably respond to fire emergencies in the span of five (5) minutes which would lead to faster suppression of fire. But, in reality, BFP is far from being able to respond to fire, because of lack of preparation on their equipment and because of being too relaxed. In actuality, because of these circumstances, BFP is responding to fire, averaging to ten (10) to fifteen (15) minutes which lead to slower suppression of fire. And to think that the government has allotted money for BFPs equipment for it to be more useful and be more reliable. The equipment must be always ready and checked to ensure the effectiveness and preparedness of it in case of emergency. In this case, lack of fund is not a reason to just leave the equipment in not a good condition. As we assumed, fire comes in a much unpredicted time, how can a fire be easily suppressed if in the first place if the BFP is not taking care of it. In this way, we
can measure the level of effectiveness of personnel to overcome the problems they may encounter. This is the reason why we chose to study about this topic, to assess the problems that the BFP may encounter in times of emergency. This will also show the effectiveness of BFP’s response methods, and try to come up with proposals to improve the BFP’s system.
Background of the Study
Disaster as defined by IFRC(International Federation of Red Cross) is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins. A disaster in their natural forms includes typhoons, earthquake, tsunami and volcanic eruptions whereas there is one destructive man-made disaster which is war. Fire is an example of a disaster that can be caused by both factors stated above. Fire are the most costly preventable emergency in the Philippines but are relatively unstudied. Through the centuries there has been such an intimate connection of fire with the cultural growth. Fire, provided a source of warmth, protection and a method for cooking food. Creating fire allowed the expansion of human activity to proceed into the dark and colder hours of the night. While, fire has helped much in shaping and developing the country’s industries, it has also caused destruction in decreasing the economy by levelling business centers, establishments, residences and has claimed numerous lives and properties.
Fire is combustion or burning, in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and typically give out bright light, heat, and smoke (Oxford Dictionary). A fire disaster can be providential (natural) such as wildfires, accidental (human error or negligence) or intentional such as the crime of arson. An intentional cause of fire, legally termed as arson, is the wilful malicious burning of property (as building) especially with criminal or fraudulent intent (MerriamWebster Dictionary) is a crime stated in criminal laws of most countries one of which is the Philippines. However, fires, even in accidental causes, displaces hundreds to thousands of families from their homes, costs hundreds of thousands to millions worth of damage to property and may even be a cause of several deaths. In connection to the disastrous effects of fire, the Bureau of Fire Protection(BFP) under the DILG and by virtue of Republic Act 6975, otherwise known as DILG Act of 1990, is primarily to perform and be responsible for the prevention and suppression of destructive fires on buildings, houses or other structures, forest lands, land transportation vehicles and equipment, ships and vessels docked at piers or wharves anchored in major seaports, petroleum industry installations, plane crashes and other similar activities. The recent statistics available at the National Statistical Coordination Board(NSCB) shows that there are 12,301 total fire incidents occurred in the year 2013 nationwide which is 39.8% higher than 8,798 fire reported in 2012 and 39.4% higher than the fires recorded in 2011and 14.2% higher than the 10,773 fires posted in 2010.
The BFP cited power overloading and electrical glitches as the main causes of fire incidents in the country. The BFP is strengthening its anti-fire campaign and is informing the public that they can provide free services of fire inspections to have wiring and outlets checked in the households. The BFP also lacks 17,000 firemen in the country due to budget constraints. According to BFP Chief, a fire truck should have at least 7 firemen but only average about 4 firemen per firetruck in the Philippines. Problems can be categorized into three namely: Human/Personnel, Material/Facilities and Economic/Financial. In the Personnel side, according to the Philippine Figures of the National Statistics Office(NSO), the ratio of fireman to population as of 2012 is 1:589 from the 16,252 total firemen nationwide. In the material side, the common problems encountered are lack of fire trucks, fire hydrants available, and more will be included in this research as the study progresses. Financial problems originate from the Department of Budget Management appropriation towards the Bureau of Fire Protection. Lack of financial support is a prime cause that allows the two other problems (Human and Material) to manifest.
Fire-fighters, before being inducted into the Bureau of Fire Protection, undergo a series of training in which concerns of not only extinguishing fire, but also the prevention or suppression of the same. The number of the firemen as well as their ratio to the population, as stated above, is not suffice to actually prevent fire especially in the city of Pasig in which there are 12 fire stations and 11 of those are considered to be sub-stations serving the whole City and the barangays within.
Statement of the Problem
Fires and fire-related casualties are relatively unstudied in the Philippines but are perceived to be a continual problem. This research project was conducted with the intention of determining if there were any issue or problems to be addressed by our fire personnel regarding the course of action that they may take when responding to a certain emergency. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:
1) What are the problems encountered by the Bureau of Fire Protection in Pasig City in suppressing a fire? 2)
How does a certain environment affect the suppression of fire?
3) Is there a significant difference between the performance of each station when suppressing fire? 4) Is there a significant relationship between suppression of fire and the health of the personnel suppressing it?
Hypotheses
In this study, the researchers have advanced their null hypothesis: 1. Yes, there is a significant difference in the performance of each station in suppressing fire encountered in Pasig City 2. Yes, there is a significant relationship between the suppression of fire with the personnel suppressing it.
Theoretical Framework
Organizations need highly performing individuals in order to meet their goals, to deliver the products and services they specialized in, and finally to achieve competitive advantage. Performance is also important for the individual/ Accomplishing tasks and performing at a high level can be a source of satisfaction, with feelings of mastery and price. Low performance and not achieving the goals might be experienced as dissatisfying or even as personal failure. Moreover, performance if it is recognized by other within the organization is often awarded by financial and other benefits. Performance is a major although not the only prerequisite for future career development and success in the labor market. Although there might be exceptions, high performers get promoted more easily within an organization and generally have better career opportunities than low performers. (VanScotter, Motowidlo, & Cross, 2000)
The effectiveness of an organization lies solely to the performance of each individual as it was stated in the preceding paragraph. It is also stated that each individual will produce different kinds of result depending on their performance and we connect this theory to our topic because there is bound to be a different result of each station in the suppression of fire
Significance of the Study
This study would be of importance to the following: Bureau of Fire Protection. As the target of this research, the study aims to
identify, analyze and give out recommendation to the involved to address the problems encountered by the Bureau of Fire Protection firefighters in the province to improve prevention and suppression of destructive fires. Department of Interior and Local Government. The findings of the
study will give the DILG a valid and reliable information to help the BFP improve the facilities and equipment for an efficient and effective service of fire prevention and suppression. Local Government Unit. This study will be a good reference to allocate
funds to improve the existing firefighting facilities of the BFP Pasig.
Community. The result of this study will create awareness on the part of
the people in relation to fire prevention and suppression. Future Researchers. This study would benefit the future researchers by using it
as a reference for their study of related field.
Scope and Limitation of the Study
This research is limited to findings of problems encountered by the personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Pasig City. This study will only include the areas within Pasig. The descriptive research design will be utilize in this study. The demographic profile of the respondents will be limited to age, sex, civil status, length of service.
Definition of Terms
For the better understanding of the readers/researchers the following definitions are defined conceptually and operationally. Bureau of Fire Protection. Created by virtue of RA 6975 under
Department of Interior Local Government. Primarily to perform and be responsible for the prevention and suppression of destructive fires on buildings, houses or other structures, forest lands, land transportation vehicles and equipment, ships and vessels docked at piers or wharves anchored in major seaports, petroleum industry installations, plane crashes and other similar activities. It is the research target in which the study aims to identify the problems and give out recommendations to the concerning agency to aid in providing solution to the problem.
Encountered. To come upon a person or a difficulty such as a problem.
In this study, it is the identification of the problems being experienced of the Bureau of Fire Protection fire fighters. Fire-fighters. A person whose job is to extinguish fires.
In this study, they are the targeted respondents on what are the problems encountered. Problems. A question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution.
It is the focus of the study to identify the problems and give out recommendation to solve these specific problems.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents a review of literature relevant to the present study. It consists of related literatures and studies in the Philippines and abroad and likewise studies whose implications are to some extent related to the investigation at hand. Foreign Studies
According to Kirtley et. al, (2007), on a study titled: Mitigation of the Rural Fire Problem: Strategies Based on Original Research and Adaptation of Existing Best Practices. The following are recommendations for further research and for implementation of
programs for USFA, NFPA, and other national and local organizations interested in mitigating the rural fire problem . (1) We recommend the development and implementation of a model multihazard survey for homes that could be incorporated as a voluntary outreach program and used to identify homes that need changes in their equipment. Equipment checked could include both portable and stationary space heaters, electrical wiring and related parts of the electrical distribution system, and smoke alarms .The survey also could check related conditions, such as locked, blocked, or inoperable doors and windows that are part of primary or alternate escape routes. For greatest effectiveness and least burden on the households, the survey would be conducted by trained professionals, though not necessarily certified fire inspectors or electricians, with the consent of the households .Despite the term “survey,” this is not envisioned as a hand-off instrument for households to use to review their own equipment. After the survey the residents of the household would be given a list of prioritized safety hazards that should be corrected .In an ideal program there would be community block grants or other funding that would help the property owner to follow through on some of the improvements suggested by the survey; (2) We recommend partnering with national and regional organizations and agencies such as the U .S .Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Southwest Indian Foundation; the U .S .Department of Agriculture (DOA); the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association; and the HEARTH Education Foundation to develop programs that would replace problem space heaters; (3) We recommend the development of a program for improvement of rural electrical system safety that
will set priorities in terms of the range of hazards and conditions that may be identified in a survey and will identify affordable modifications suitable for use in existing homes; (4) We recommend the development of a national strategy to install working smoke alarms in every rural home; (5) We recommend the development of a DVD/video that would communicate the importance of reaching rural communities and would portray the variety of rural communities in the United States by region and group type; and (6) We recommend increased research on effective ways to meet the needs of the rural fire service.
Local Studies
According to Bacareza, (2012), on a study titled: Capability of The Bureau of Fire Protectionnational Capital Region in Responding to Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Explosives and Hazardous Materials in Metro Manila: an Assessment. The findings of the study are as follows: The study arrived at the following findings: On the status of the BFP with regard to its expanded role, the BFP was created by virtue of RA 6975 primarily to perform following functions: Responsible for the prevention and suppression of destructive fires; Enforcement of the Fire Code of the Phil. (PD 1185); Investigate its causes and if necessary file case in court; and In times of emergency, upon the direction of the President assist the AFP in meeting national emergency. With the passage of RA 9514 or the Fire Code of the Philippines
of 2008, the BFP’s role was extended to include: enforcement of the Fire Code, Inspection and Ensuring Safety Measures for Manufacture, Storage, Handling& Use of Hazardous Materials. On the level of its capability in handling HAZMATs and CBRNE incidents in terms of its mandate, policies, and identified implementing unit (personnel, policies and systems, human resource capabilities, logistics, funding, coordinative mechanism, public information management, and drills/exercises), it can be concluded that the respondents’ highest assessment with 90% approval score was in terms of awareness to RA 9514 or the New Fire Code of the Philippines in application to responding HAZMATs and CBRNE. On the other hand, the highest assessment with regard measuring the capability of the BFP-NCR in responding to CBRNE and hazardous materials is on policy on response specifically at Office/Fire Station level with a total approval rating of 89% while the lowest assessment provided by the respondents is in terms of improving human resource capabilities relative to the personnel’s participation in Operation Level CBRNE training. Hence, it can be construed that the BFP-NCR should enhance its human resource capabilities taking into consideration the expanded role of the BFP in responding to HAZMATs and CBRNE incidents. This was further supported by the fact that the respondents were one in saying that the conduct of regular drills and exercises as part of CBRNE Station Preparedness Plan should be the key priority for the BFPNCR. While their lowest assessment in terms of the BFP- NCR’s capability in responding to
CBRNE with regard to the BFP Operational Manual on CBRNE means that there is no Operational Manual in place.
