TALIBON, Bohol (PIA) — Learning a hard lesson from the fire that gutted 12 houses in Purok San Roque here, Bohol Gov. Erico Aristotle C. Aumentado has instructed the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to secure for a workable specifications for a firefighting equipment that can be effective in the narrow passages of populated islands in Bohol.
Speaking before the families of fire victims here, the governor said he has instructed provincial fire marshal Raul Bustaliño to look into the possibility of a pump and hose system that can draw sea water and have enough pressure to spray seawater and kill fires.
Earlier, Bustaliño admitted that while Bohol towns have already established fire stations and have fire trucks, serving the islands has been a challenge.
In view of this, he said their campaign to establish fire brigades especially in barangays have continued.
For Nocnocan, an island of 2.7 hectares populated by nearly 2000 residents, fire brigades are composed mostly of barangay officials and peace keeping officers.
“We were forced to use pails of water to splash into the surrounding houses to contain the fire,” barangay tanods shared.
With issues of water scarcity and overpopulation as houses literally connect with each other, sourcing out water to put out the fires has been a major challenge.
An island almost an hour away from the mainland, Nocnocan sits in the middle of a vast sea, where the majority of its residents are fishermen who help contain the fire.
“It was still good that the breeze was at standstill, or it would have been impossible to contain the fire,” they claimed.
From the origin of fire, the nearest coastline was another 50 meters and through a maze of passages characteristic of populated island barangays.
“The fastest evacuation route was to the sea, we have to put the kids on boats, for safety,” another tanod added.
Residents who helped salvage things also put these important belongings on boats, as the maze of passageways were overwhelmed with rescuers, firefighters, and escaping victims.
A hose supplied with pressurized sea water from a private pump also helped contain the spread of the fire.
Learning how effective that can be, the governor has called the BFP to check on equipment which can be procured from the province’s disaster funds.
Still without reliable power and potable water supply in the island, Aumentado also instructed barangay officials to look for available space where the province can build a sea water desalination plant and a generator under the government’s Small Power Utilities Group to be managed by the local distributor BOHECO II. (RAHC/PIA Bohol)
