CCDRRMC: Efforts to find missing hydrants continue

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC) Chairman Ramil Ayuman said that a total of 65 fire hydrants have been reported missing, while 285 remain unmetered.

Citing the report of the Cebu City Fire Office (CCFO) on the status of fire hydrants, Ayuman yesterday said there are a total of 385 reported actual fire hydrants throughout the city.

Of the 385 hydrants, 65 of these are reportedly missing, while 285 units are not metered.

The report also showed that 89 fire hydrants are defective, while only 25 are currently metered.

The report showed that Barangay Guadalupe is posted to have the highest number of actual and missing fire hydrants, with 52 actual fire hydrants and 12 missing.

Ayuman said that in locating the fire hydrants, the CCDRRMC followed a map or the plan of the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD), as it is the one that has the highest number of hydrants.

On June 10, 2025, when Mayor-elect Nestor Archival joined the meeting with the Green Council,  he asked the Bureau of Fire Protection and the MCWD  to submit a reconciled data or an inventory of the existing fire hydrants in the city.

Prompted by cases of many non-functioning hydrants, the city's fire office reported the matter and took the needed action, as this is already hindering its emergency operations.

Ayuman said that a fire hydrant's price ranges from P150,000 to P250,000, which means replacing the missing units alone would cost a lot of money.

Ayuman and MCWD representative Cesar Pelarca identified road widening projects and site developments, such as building infrastructures, as among the reasons for the missing hydrants.

Ayuman said that efforts to find the hydrants are still ongoing. However, if these can't still be found despite all efforts exerted, his team has no other choice but to officially declare these hydrants as missing on their record.

Now that Ayuman's office have identified the functional and non-functional hydrants, the next step is to  add a meter to all fire hydrants to monitor the water usage and wastage.

Ayuman said that fixing all the defective hydrants is also included in the plan.

He said that the MCWD requested for firefighters to use metered hydrants during fire incidents for easy and regular tracking purposes.

Ayuman said his office is still assessing where to get the budget for his plans on fire hydrants. - CNU Inter Caren Itolle/JG (FREEMAN)