Expert blames most fires on electrical misuse

AVOID using substandard appliances, use octopus connection and wiretapping to prevent fires.

Most of the fire incidents in Cebu City and Central Visayas are caused by electrical misuse as people disregard the actual electrical plan of the house if any.

Former Cebu City councilor Nestor Archival, an electrical engineer,  said homes have all the elements that would spark a fire.

For the fire to spark, it requires three elements:  oxygen, heat and fuel.

“The only way to prevent fire is not to complete the three elements of fire,” Archival said.

Archival said most of the homes in Cebu City especially in urban poor areas do not have the proper fuse or circuit breakers that would protect an overloaded electrical circuit.

The fuse wire breaks and automatically trips off the electrical connection when the electric current reaches the unsafe level.

But some  households take a risky innovation by installing an ordinary wire instead of a fuse wire so that the electrical flow won’t be interrupted even when the electricity consumption becomes too heavy.

“In the event that electrical flow becomes too heavy, it creates heat. When the heat (on the wires) reaches 50 degrees Celsius it is considered critical which means there is something wrong with the electrical connection,” Archival said.

The heat could melt a rubber, burn a paper or a paint in the wall which are considered ‘fuel’ in the ‘triangle of fire’. It would raze a home and later a neighborhood.

“These are the common causes of fire. It is important that people should be educated,” Archival said.

It is a common practice at home when one places a lot of extensions and junctions on one electrical outlet but households don’t realize its risk.

Each outlet, according to Archival, is designed to supply only a certain amount of load. Putting several extensions to it causes an electrical overload and would possibly create instantaneous combustion that would cause a fire.

Meanwhile a substandard appliance such as an electric fan that has substandard motor is vulnerable to fire.

He said urban poor settlers tend to settle in buying cheap appliance without considering its risk.

“Although these are cheap, these are very dangerous especially if the household don’t clean it regularly or their surroundings are not clean,” Archival said.

A substandard electric motor causes a lot of friction compared to quality-made appliance.

“When a substandard electric fan is not cleaned, the dust would serve as fuel to the heat caused by the friction in the motor. That is the common cause of fire,” Archival stressed.

Fight fire first

A bucket full of water and a towel could save your life.

Residents should know what to do in the event of a fire.

“Presence of mind is very important during fire,” he said.

Before running out to save yourself and belongings, try to put off the fire with this basic technique shared by Archival and save a neighborhood.

Prepare a wet towel and immediately cover the source of fire.

“To stop a fire, you have to take at least one element in the fire triangle. When you cover the source of fire with a wet towel you are removing the air element,” Archival said.

“These are basic and very simple things that people should be aware of. They should not panic,” he said.

Prevention

If your house was built 15 to 20 years ago, then consider re-wiring your house.

As time goes by, households adds a new appliances each year increasing its electrical consumption thus putting more load in the electrical wires.

“There should be proper maintenance because the wirings and metals expand because of heat thus the screws loosen up,” he said.

Furthermore, he said households should not just get any electrician but make sure they are certified by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

Looking ahead, Archival said each barangays must have their own a technically trained electrician for households can call up to repair busted circuits.

“Hopefully our barangays will invest in training at least one electrician and thermal scanner so that the household wires will be monitored to prevent fire,” Archival said. /Marian Z. Codilla, Senior Reporter