LGUs told to educate people on fire safety

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday called on each of the disaster offices of Cebu cities and municipalities to make sure that the public is aware of fire safety practices, especially since the province is experiencing unusually high temperatures.

This was after the grass fires in Oslob and Argao caused by the intense heat brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.

The governor said everyone must be reminded of the “high risks of the flammability of…materials that were normally dili unta, precisely because of the abnormally high-temperature indices that we have been seeing.”

She said the Capitol will study the situation of the province and would be ready to assist.

“We will assist where we can assist. We will make a decision where we should make a decision,” she further said, in a report by the Capitol’s news arm, Sugbo News.

Aside from strengthening the information drive about El Niño and fire safety practices, Garcia also assured that farmers whose crops are affected by drought caused by El Niño would be compensated by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration had said that the heat index will possibly increase in the coming days, pointing to the presence of the El Niño phenomenon and the ongoing dry season as contributing factors.

The unusually high temperatures had prompted Garcia and Cebu local government units and Garcia to issue separate memoranda suspending classes in public to avoid the risks they pose to the well-being of the students. — RHM (CEBU NEWS)