• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod is urging punong barangays and the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to mobilize their respective community response team to strictly monitor open grass fields that are potential fire hazards.
The SP approved during its session April 8 the resolution of Councilor Claudio Jesus “Kalaw” Puentevella, chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Ecology, who stressed the need for barangays and the DRRMO to take precautionary measures to prevent grassfires.
Puentevella noted that, as per the Bacolod Bureau of Fire Protection, it received 205 fire calls in March, of which 130 were grassfires, as well as five sugarcane, 15 residential, five commercial, 20 post, 26 rubbish, and three vehicular fires.
In the first two days of this month, the city BFP also responded to several grassfires, including near the Northbound Terminal in Barangay Banago that razed several hectares of grassland, and the others in barangays Bata, Handumanan, and Alijis.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration earlier said that El Niño remains active and is expected to persist until next month, so there is need for all Bacolod barangays to strictly ensure that open fields in their areas are not potential fire hazards. | CGC
