WHAT IS the required response rate of fire departments in the Philippines?
There appears to be none.
An international organization, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), has set a global standard of nine minutes, but our own Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has apparently not set a standard at all. Because of that, there is no way of measuring the standards of fire departments in the Philippines at all.
In reality, there are really no fire departments in the Philippines, in the true sense of the word. What we have instead are local detachments of the BFP, and not the fire departments that are supposedly under local government units (LGUs).
Because of the fact that they are not functionally under the mayors, there is no way that we could blame them for their lack of performance. Neither could we measure their performance if we really want to, because there are not standards as far as I know.
It is sad to know that there are still hundreds of LGUs in the Philippines that do not have ambulance units. It is a good thing that the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has been donating ambulance units to LGUs for so many years now, but even without the assistance of the PCSO, the LGUs should be able to provide for their own ambulance units already.
If they could afford their service vehicles, why can’t they afford ambulance units?
However, it is not enough to simply buy ambulance units without providing for trained technical staff to operate them. What that means is that they should have real Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) on board these ambulance units.
Now comes my question. Where should these be put under? Should they be under the BFP fire detachments also, or should they be under the LGUs?
In my opinion, the LGUs should put up a separate rescue department, and put the ambulance units under this new department. Since emergencies and disasters have become so prevalent now, it is about time to put up this new department to rescue people from floods, earthquakes and chemical spills.
As a matter of fact, they should also budget for med-evac helicopters, speed boats and satellite phones.
