December 5, 1998 - A Call To Revitalize the Manila FD

The need to revitalize the Fire Dep't

THERE are varying estimates of the time firetrucks took to respond to the conflagration early Thursday morning at the Asosacion de Damas de Pilipino orphanage in Paco which killed 28, 23 of them children.

Between the time the fire started at shortly after 1:30 a.m. and the arrival of the firemen, estimates ranged from 30 minutes to about an hour. This seems unforgivable considering that the Paco fire station is in the neighborhood and the Tejeron fire station in Sta. Ana is about seven minutes away, there being no traffic after midnight. An early response could have saved many lives. * * *

President Estrada, who visited the scene, promised to have the orphanage rebuilt. Maybe no one told him about the long time the firefighters took arriving. He should find out what time the alarm came in. In this modern age, our communications infrastructure has yet to keep up with the times. Sure, our telephone system now offers the IDD and other modern features, but lines remain scarce and public phones are few. In case of a fire, the first problem is to look for a telephone. Another is to find the number of the fire station. There is no centralized fire alarm number. * * *

In America, everyone knows that in case of an emergency, whether it be a fire, a traffic accident, a robbery or a case of a heart attack, all one has to do is dial 911. In a minute, rescuers will be on their way, whether they be firefighters, policemen or ambulances. That 911 works in all parts of America. Banks have alarms linked to police stations and such alarms are available to home owners. In cases of break-ins, police cars will show up in a matter of minutes, in many cases in time for the police to nab the robbers. * * *

Over a generation ago, Manila used to have fire alarm boxes strapped to electric posts. In case of fire, all one had to do was to run to an alarm box and pull the lever. With the rise of vandalism, they gave up on these fire alarm boxes. * * *

In Hong Kong or New York city, anyone who applies for a telephone can have it installed in days. In most cases, as one submits his application, he is already assigned a telephone number. And although the ownership of telephones is practically universal in these cities, there are phone booths on street corners, operated either by coins or phone cards. In this metropolis of over 10 million, there are no phone booths on the streets. The pay phones are found in hotel lobbies and malls, almost all operated by phone cards. It could be that the telephone people are too lazy to collect the coins. If one has no phone card, he cannot call. The new management of the PLDT, if it intends to serve the public better as it professes, must make up for these deficiencies. * * *

All this is not to say that the fire stations are not to blame for arriving so late at the fire at the orphanage. Firemen work in shifts and are expected to be awake during their shifts. Even without any alarm, they should have spotted that fire just a few blocks away. Like the police, fire departments have been centralized under a national office. They should be broken up and returned to the control of the mayors for better supervision. In the meantime, they must be made to pay for their miserable showing.