The Bureau of Fire Protection in Oriental Negros reported that the total damage caused by fire incidents in 2005 was pegged at P23.2 million.

The BFP, at the Kapihan forum of the Philippine Information Agency at the Bethel Guesthouse, Dumaguete City, Thursday said there were a total of 288 fire incidents reported in the province last year.

From January to March this year, 54 fire incidents have been recorded with the total damage placed at P2.7 million.

SFO2 Lorenco Trasmonte, speaking at the forum, said the cause of the most number of fire incidents are electrical in nature.

In line with the Fire Prevention Month celebration in March, the BFP had conducted several activities geared towards boosting the fire control and prevention campaign in the province.

Langcoyan also disclosed that the BFP is adopting the running card system as part of an effective fire response, suppression and control system. "Like in Tanjay City, when the market burned down, the fire truck at that time was responding to a fire incident in another area," he said.

He explained that with the running card system, in the case of Tanjay City, if the fire truck there was responding to a fire incident in another area, the fire stations in San Jose and Bais City will be informed beforehand so that they will be the first to respond in case a fire breaks out in Tanjay.

The towns in the province that do not have fire trucks are Bacong, Zamboanguita, Dauin, Basay, Manjuyod, Pamplona, Bindoy, Ayungon, Jimalalud, La Libertad and Vallehermoso.