CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES — The month of March ended with a notable drop in the number of fire incidents compared to the previous year, which the Cebu City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) attributed to its intensified campaign in line with the Fire Prevention Month.
Based on the latest data, the BFP recorded a total of 26 fire incidents in the city from March 1 to 31 this year, showing a significant decrease compared to the total of 34 fires in 2025 and 39 fires in 2024, all in the same months.
With the decline in the number of fires in March this year, the estimated damage caused by them also reduced down to PHP 8,786,000—noticeably a lesser amount compared to the same month last year that reached PHP 10,795,000, which was also conversely higher than PHP 9,602,500 from 2024.
Fire authorities also reported zero fatalities in Cebu City this year, critically better compared to the reported three deaths in March last year.
However, the number of injuries this year strikingly increased to eight individuals compared to the two injured individuals each in the last two years.
Of the 26 reported incidents last month in Cebu City, at least 17 broke out in residential areas, while six struck non-residential establishments, and the other three were transportation vehicles caught in fire.
Cebu City Fire Station information officer SFO3 Wendell Villanueva affirmed that the remarkable decline in the number of fires and the damage they caused is a result of the agency’s strengthened fire prevention campaign.
“Nakita nato nga adunay pag os-os sa number of fire incidents gikan sa 2024, 2025, ug karong Marso 2026 hasta ang estimated damage dunay pag konhod. Bonga kini sa atong sobsob nga fire prevention effort sa BFP (ug) Cebu City Fire Station,” he said.
| Written by Nicholas Jon Malaga
