CEBU — As the country celebrates Fire Prevention Month, the Cebu City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has intensified its efforts to provide public safety awareness and reminders amid a potential increase in fire incidents this March.
This year’s celebration continues with the theme, “In Fire Prevention, You Are Not Alone”—a timeless message that the BFP has been promoting for five years now to call on the community to unite in the fire prevention campaign.
Senior Fire Officer 3 Wendell Villanueva, spokesperson of the Cebu City BFP, admitted that despite initiatives to spread awareness among the public, the number of fire incidents is still high in the month of March.
“Fire prevention plays a vital role in the community, which we have not yet achieved. A testament to that is the high number of fire incidents,” he said.
Based on data from the Cebu City BFP, 39 fire incidents were recorded in March 2024, while 34 were recorded in March 2025.
Although there was a slight decrease, Villanueva also highlighted the increase in estimated damages, from P9.6 million in 2024 to P10.7 million last year.
Villanueva also said the BFP hopes to reduce the number of fire incidents in the city as well as the cost of damage they cause, especially in March. “We are hoping that by March 2026 this will decrease. We cannot expect zero fire incidents in March, especially since this month is the beginning of summer in the Philippines,” he said.
From January to February of this year, Villanueva confirmed that there were more than 20 fire incidents recorded in Cebu City, which he said is lower compared to last year, when 55 incidents were reported in two months.
He also pointed out that the significant reduction is the result of consistent and frequent information dissemination to residents in the city of the importance of fire prevention, under their intensified Oplan Ligtas Pamayanan program. “We will never stop educating residents in these areas so that they can truly prevent fires,” he said.
Villanueva also pointed out that, among the barangays that are often hit by fires in the city, are Lahug, Guadalupe, Mambaling, Pasil, Ermita, and Duljo-Fatima, which he said have a large population of informal settlers who are often irresponsible when it comes to fire safety.
He added that the most common causes of fires are related to irresponsible use of electricity, faulty wiring, and electrical overloading. He also encouraged the public to regularly check the condition of electrical appliances and appliances that may have problems and could potentially cause fires.
“We are encouraging the public to revisit our electrical installations to see if our installed wiring can withstand the loads that are plugged into the appliances in our individual homes,” Dacullo said.
As the month-long observance of Fire Prevention Month begins today, March 1, Villanueva hopes that the public will be responsible and actively do their part as citizens.
The celebration will begin with a motorcade of over a hundred firetrucks and emergency vehicles that will parade through the major streets of Cebu City.
Authorities also remind the public to remain calm if they see firetrucks and hear their sirens, which are just part of the program.
Additionally, there are various community-engaging and environmental activities also scheduled every week throughout the month, including fun runs, street dance parades, zumba, simultaneous fire drills, coastal clean-ups, tree planting, sports competitions, and more.
| Written by Nicholas Jon Malaga / RAE
