Bohol Regional Fire Trng Hub

Still work in progress- BFP

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 6 (PIA)— The decision whether to fund the proposed Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) P207 million Regional Training Center in a 1.3 hectare property in a government donated lot in Camambugan Ubay, Bohol, now rests in the indulgence of the Central Office.

As far as Provincial Fire Marshal Fire Superintendent Raul Bustaliño is concerned, the local office has already secured all the necessary endorsements from the Provincial Development Council and the Regional Development Council, and the office has even prepared the budget and operational costs of the facility that becomes the training center for 500 new firemen recruits in every four months.

This is a work in progress, Supt Bustaliño, immediately adds, pointing out that the local government unit of Ubay donated the lot in 2023, which also allowed the local BFP to plot the site development plan, program of works, considering the very positive support of Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, Congresswoman Maria Vanessa C Aumentado and the local officials.

No wonder, Supt Bustaliño and the Provincial BFP is bullish about the training facility, because it would be the first one in Central Visayas and would cater to trainees from Regions 6, 7 and 8.

“Its proximity to Region 8 in Leyte, presents it as the ideal venue for their new recruits,” Supt Bustaliño remarked.

As the local fire personnel and officials await for the implementation of the facility, the fire marshal also shared the ongoing building of typical fire stations in Bohol, as part of the BFP Modernization Program.

Timing the operationalization of a P15 million fire station in Candijay, Bustaliño said they expect to also resettle town firemen who are temporarily based in makeshift stations or squatting in local government properties, to their new permanent municipal headquarters.

Up for completion are typical firs stations in Trinidad, Duero, Mabini, Baclayon, Corella and the P30 million Provincial Fire Office of the Fire Marshal in Cortes.

These constructions bring to over 80 percent of the faire stations here now thy typical design for such infrastructure in the country, the fire marshal reported.

Apart from fire stations, Bustaliño advanced the information that the BFP Modernization under the Duterte Administration and the efforts of Boholano Fire chief Louie Puracan has resulted in 27 new fire trucks for Bohol.

The new arrival modern fire trucks bring to 93 all fire trucks in Bohol, according to the fire official.

At the current fire truck to manpower complement, Bohol however has a huge backlog.

As to the official, BFP Bohol is comprised of 711 personnel, but at the current fire truck to manpower ration of 1:7, Bohol still needs a little over 1,200 personnel to complete the team of fully equipped fire team in every 8-hours duty shifts every day.

The drab situation however is nothing to sulk about, Bustaliño pressed.

The arrival of four ambulance vehicles has also placed the BFP into yet another challenge: add manpower complement, not just as ambulance drivers but emergency medical responders and firemen nurses to accompany the ambulance units in emergency medical response calls.

Work smart, not working hard, BFP Bohol is still into pinning its response time to 5 minutes, which can be impossible with fire stations spaced to nearly 10 kilometers apart and the community now more keen on using fire incidents as vlog content that using the phone to alert fire responders.

We properly do fire inspections instead, make sure residences keep fire-fighting equipment, functional fire extinguishers, properly installed house sprinklers and alarm system as well as building code regulations that allow people to survive fire incidents and initiate auxiliary fire suppression before the fire engines arrive.

While establishing this group called Community Fire Auxiliary Groups (CFAG) is already an item needed by the Department of Interior and Local Governments in the Local Government Unit’s dream of attaining the seal of good local governance, several LGUS still keep the CFAGs only in the documents.

We have to make sure we have a functional CFAG, as they are those we trained to act as the first responder during fire Fire incidents in island barangays have to have trained emergency responders, adopt to the tasks at hand and can also secure the incident perimeter to facilitate the arrival of the fire engines carrying fire hoses. (PIA-Bohol/RAHC)