84 CITY VILLAGES ARE FIRE HAZARDS: City Hall, MORE Power moves to curb ‘electrical blazes’

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The Iloilo City government in partnership with MORE Power and other government agencies will mount a 6-month program aimed at lessening or even eliminating fires of electrical causes or nature.

Engr. Bailey del Castillo, Senior Assistant Vice President of Network Operations of MORE Power, said in an interview that the program is an offshoot of a meeting with City Councilor Sedfrey Cabaluna, Office of the Building Official (OBO), Liga ng mga Barangays, and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

Also present in the meeting was MORE Power Assistant Vice President for Customer Care Maricel Pe-Calunod.

Cabaluna authored a resolution urging barangay officials to hire licensed electricians who will inspect the electrical safety of houses and other establishments.

Del Castillo said the data they have gathered from the City Hall and BFP indicated that most fires were electrical in nature that were triggered by illegal connections, overloaded lines, and short circuits.

He pointed to the fire that gobbled more than 300 houses in Molo in January 2023. When they verified the affected households with that of their database, they found out that only 114 houses have legal connections.

“Some might be illegal while other legitimate consumers were generous enough to allow their neighbors to tap into their connections, but then it could lead to serious consequences like overloading of their lines which could cause fires,” he added.

Del Castillo said there is also negligence on the part of some consumers who misuse their connections which is already out of MORE Power’s jurisdiction as a distributor.

To address the problem, del Castillo said MORE Power proposed a 3-phase program that will start with data gathering and fire hazard mapping. The data gathering will help determine which barangays are considered fire hazards.

The City Government already has its fire hazard map while the BFP provided a 5-year database on fire incidents in the city. The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office also has its own data on conflagrations in the city.

“Based on the data we got from City Hall and BFP, there are 84 of the 180 barangays in the city that need immediate attention. We will then coordinate with the barangay officials, OBO, and BFP in inspecting the houses and establishments therein as to their electrical safety. We will focus on structures with obvious problems,” he added.

Phase 2 will be the submission of recommendations to concerned structure owners to correct whatever problems MORE Power and other inspectors will discover.

“If the problem is within our responsibility, we will correct it. But if the concerns are internal to the property, the OBO and BFP will handle the implementation,” he added.

Phase 3 is the follow-up on the recommendations to determine if the owners followed the proposed corrections.

If there are jumpers or illegal connections, del Castillo said they will facilitate the application of the household or building owner in partnership with the OBO and the City Engineer’s Office.

The team will try to finish inspecting the 84 priority barangays in six months. Apart from the inspection, they will also hold an information campaign with residents to provide them with information on electrical and fire safety.

Del Castillo said their aim is “zero fires” of electrical nature in six months to one year since conflagrations do not occur in the summer season only.

“Even at the end of the year when there are many activities and demand for electricity is high, fires also occur. So, we are not just focusing on the summer season but on the yearend as well. We hope to carry out this program in a consistent manner to avoid fires that damage properties and even claim lives,” he added.