SunStar Cagayan de Oro, November 16, 2006
SUBSTANDARD electric Christmas decors are a major cause of fire, officials warned, a day after two successive fires gutted properties in a week and left affected families sifting through the ashes.
On Wednesday night, a fire consumed six commercial stalls in the public market in Agora, Lapasan leaving an estimated damage of P200,000, fire officials said.
Fire started from the ceiling of a pharmacy and burned the neighboring stalls -- an indication that electric overloading may have sparked it, City Fire Marshall Oscar Abecia said.
Last Wednesday, a fire in Barangay 26 devoured over 100 homes and several commercial establishments and left 168 families homeless.
Properties destroyed were at around P19 million, the Cagayan de Oro Fire Department reported.
Eliza Pabillore, head of the Department of Trade and Industry in Misamis Oriental, warned buyers of electric Christmas adornments against substandard materials in the markets "because this could cause conflagrations."
"There are many low-quality Christmas decorations in the market today, and these substandard materials have caused fires in the past, such what happened at the De Venecia residence," Pabillore said, referring to the fire that broke out in House Speaker Jose De Venecia's house last year that killed his daughter, KC.
To ensure that the Christmas lights have passed safety standards, buyers must look for the Import Commodity Certificate (ICC) sticker attached to the product, or the Philippine Standards (PS) mark, she said. "Without proper government markings, buyers should be suspicious."
Products without the ICC and PS marks are either illegally obtained or of low-quality, and buyers are running the risk of buying fire hazard materials, she added.
Without specifying statistics, Fire Marshall Abecia said that conflagrations occurring in the weeks leading to December are mostly caused either by firecrackers and defective Christmas lights.
Pabillore said her office is conducting market inspections to ensure that all sold Christmas decor items are legally procured and have passed safety regulations.
Last week, a team from the trade office burned hundreds of electrical products confiscated in Cagayan de Oro, which are either defective or have fallen short of government standards.
A minimum of P10,000 fines are imposed against stores selling these kinds of products, Pabillore said.
