The Freeman, March 12, 2007
While the City Fire Department has pushed through with the activities lined up last March 1 to open the celebration of Fire Prevention Month, it has never received until now its gasoline allocation from the national government.
This was revealed by Cebu City fire marshal Esmael Codilla who admitted to have considered quitting from his post for his frustration on the inadequate logistical support of the national office.
Codilla said he is wary time will come there will not be enough fire trucks to respond to fire alarms because of inadequate gasoline allocation.
He further disclosed that the gasoline station where their allocation from the national government is deposited does not allow them anymore to refuel because the bureau is "already deeply indebted."
While he acknowledged the support they are receiving from the city government, Codilla said they could only ask so much from the local government unit.
Codilla also said that only city-donated fire trucks are allowed to refuel at the City Hall's gasoline depot. He added there are times he has to shell out his personal money to ensure that every fire truck can respond to an emergency.
Codilla even showed The FREEMAN several receipts showing he used personal funds during the Tejero fire, these were allegedly among the many previous personal expenses he incurred that the government did not refund.
The government gasoline allocation, Codilla said, is not enough to run the 20 fire trucks including the ladders, light tower and rescue vans.
At present, the city fire department has a gasoline allocation of 180 liters per truck every quarter. But he pointed out 180 liters per truck every quarter is not enough especially when there are plenty of fire alarms to respond to.
Aside from gasoline allocation problem, Codilla said the budget for spare parts is not also enough having given only by the national government P5,000 for every vehicle in a semester.
Most of the vehicles are already dilapidated having been acquired 13 years ago.
At present, Codilla said the city fire department has 10 fire engines distributed in nine fire substations. On top of the dilapidated fire trucks that need to be repaired every after firefighting operations, Codilla is also saddled with inadequate firefighting gears to keep them safe while responding to fire alarms.
He said that they were last issued a fire coat by the Bureau of Fire Protection in 1980. Most of these are already torn, but are still being used. The city government lately donated 75 coats but this is not enough for the 229 firemen in the city.
With all these problems, it has already come to a point that he wanted to give up his post.
However, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeņa does not want him to go and even fought for him when the BFP attempted to relieve him a few months ago.
