‘More permanent solution’ to QC fires pushed

MANILA, Philippines — Incoming Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said on Wednesday that she was looking for a “more permanent solution” to prevent fires in the city, particularly in areas inhabited by informal settlers.

According to her, 43 fire-prone areas will be given priority under the fire prevention education program of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

The program aims to make residents more aware of the dangers of illegal electrical connections, octopus wiring and other risks.

The city government will also coordinate with the Manila Electric Co. to identify and reduce the number of areas with faulty electrical wiring problems.

“Many of the settlements that experienced fire before are also the ones [that] are affected by the same incident again. So we really need to identify the systemic causes for this problem,” Belmonte said.

Data from the city’s Bureau of Fire Protection showed that 785 of 1,034 blazes in the city in 2018 were due to faulty wiring that was prone to overloading.

As most of the fires last year took place in slums, Belmonte said the increasing number of informal settler-families in Quezon City must also be addressed.