Shortages and shortfalls in the BFP

The Bureau of Fire Protection is banking on Republic Act 9514, or the Revised Fire Code of 2008, for the modernization of the BFP. The Fire Code created a trust fund sourced from 80 percent of the revenues the BFP is allowed to collect, including fees charged for the issuance of certificates, permits, and licenses required for the occupancy of buildings. The remaining 20 percent is set aside by cities or municipalities for the maintenance of local fire stations. Former Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno had projected the Fire Code fees at P1.5 billion every year, freeing the modernization program from dependence on regular budgetary allocations. The collection, however, has been far from Puno’s estimates. In 2010, BFP collected P522 million and only projects P702 million for this year. The first component of the BFP Modernization Program of CY 2010 needs more than P27 billion to meet the minimum requirement for fire protection capability in 692 municipalities. The BFP Modernization Program proposes at least 15 fire personnel for each fire truck, working at two shifts a day, and a provision for seven additional staff to take care of fire prevention functions. But Laguna said the BFP considers 1:14 as the ideal fire truck to firefighter ratio at this point. The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board has set the standard fireman to population ratio at 1 is to 2,000. But using this standard, BFP-NCR lacks 3,546 firefighters. The Department of the Interior and Local Government, which has direct supervision over BFP, is slow to approve new firefighter positions due to lack of funds. “Medyo hirap kami diyan sa parteng yan, kasi hangga’t walang bagong items na ipro-provide galing sa taas (DILG), walang maiidagdag na bumbero," Laguna says. At least two of the fire stations that arrived first on the scene during a big fire in 2010 are understaffed, according to firefighters. Agham Central Fire Station, the first to respond to the fire in a residential area in Agham Road in September 2010, has two fire trucks but only seven personnel per shift. MRT-Pinagsama Fire Substation in Taguig City has one fire truck and only two personnel per shift, not enough to put down the large fire in Sitio Pusawan, Barangay Ususan in December 2010. Funds are also hard to come by for firefighting vehicles and equipment. The HLURB has placed the ideal fire truck to population ratio at 1 for every 28,000 residents, which means BFP-NCR lacks about 180 fire trucks. The BFP prescribes one operational fire truck per substation to achieve the five-minute response time.

To make up for the shortfall, Laguna says they rely heavily on volunteer fire brigades, which have about 250 trucks and 1,000 volunteers, according to BFP estimates. “Yung kakulangan sa fire trucks, napupunuan yan ng ating mga fire volunteers. Minsan nga mas maganda pa ang kanilang equipment kaysa sa atin," Laguna says. The dismal situation in Metro Manila is repeated at the national level. The law mandates at least one fire station in each of the 138 cities and 1,496 municipalities nationwide “with adequate personnel, equipage and facilities." All cities have fire stations, but only 804 municipalities have fire protection services as of 2010, the BFP said in a report on the modernization program. Almost half the national inventory of fire trucks is more than 20 years old and work only after expensive repair and maintenance, the BFP notes. - Brenda Barrientos and Aedrianne Acar, GMA News Research