Many boarding houses in Southern Mindanao are fire traps

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—More than half of student boarding houses inspected by fire officials in four southern Mindanao provinces last month were found to be either fire hazards or fire traps, an official of the Bureau of Fire Protection said.

Insp. Nestor Jimenez, speaking for the BFP regional office, 69 boarding houses, three of them in Davao City, had substandard electrical wiring systems and did not have fire exits.

The BFP inspected 129 boarding houses in the three Davao provinces, Compostela valley and Davao City.

Jimenez said the lack of fire exits could complicate things in case fire broke out in these boarding houses.

He said the BFP has sent notices to the owners of the boarding houses so they could correct the deficiencies in compliance with regulations for the safety of their occupants.

“The owners of the boarding houses were asked to comply,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez said 116 schools in the region were also asked to correct defective electrical wiring systems and to install fire exits and fire alarm facilities.

“Of the number, 29 schools are in Davao City, 51 in Davao del Sur, 7 in Davao del Norte, 8 in Compostela Valley Province and 21 in Davao Oriental,” Jimenez said.

He said the BFP has been tightly monitoring structures in the region because of the noted increase in fires.

From January to May this year, Jimenez said, 188 fires were recorded all over the region compared with 169 during the same period last year.

“Of the 188 fire incidents from January to May this year, 85 happened in Davao City. The fire incidents were mostly caused by faulty electrical wiring while the rest were due to open flames, among others, such as LPG stoves,” he said.