MAJOR PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE BUREAU OF FIRE PROTECTION

PERSONNEL IN ADVANCING FIRE SUPPRESSION IN KORONADAL CITY

An Undergraduate Thesis

Presented to the Faculty of Criminal Justice Education

Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges – Marbel, Inc.

Koronadal City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Education

AJIE M. ESTEBAN

April 2023
 Chapter l

INTRODUCTION

RATIONALE

Fire is a natural phenomenon that has fascinated and shaped human civilization

for millennia. It is a chemical process characterized by the rapid oxidation of a fuel

source in the presence of oxygen, releasing heat and often light. Fire has played a

crucial role in various aspects of human history, from providing warmth and protection to

enabling cooking, forging metals, and powering engine. It is a destructive force that

poses a substantial risk to the safety of its residence and the integrity of its

infrastructure. Uncontrolled fires can result in property damage, economic losses, and

importantly the potential of loss of lives. Implementing fire suppression preparedness

specially, to the community that have not enough knowledge on how to prevent fire in

case of fire incident. Firefighters are often involves community outreach, fire prevention

education, and promoting fire awareness through school visit or public events.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

define disaster as a sudden calamitous event that severely interrupts the operation of a

community or civilization. It covers several aspects of disaster risk reduction, including

fire prevention. The major goal of prevention is to promote fire safety education and

awareness, urging communities to adopt proactive measures to lower the danger of

fires. This may include educating people about fire safety practices, supporting the

installation of smoke detectors, and campaigning for safe building construction and land
use planning to reduce fire threats. They also frequently partner with local authorities

and communities to create and implement fire prevention programs

To mitigate firefighter life-safety concerns and achieve successfully fireground

outcomes, it is critically important for firefighters to have the necessary preparedness

capabilities to respond. Firefighter preparedness consists of technical and

environmental/contextual knowledge, specialized/focused training, and firefighter

experience (Coulthard, 2018). Saving lives from fireground is the primary task in

firefighting, in which the speed of effective search largely relies on the sufficient and

instant information. When insufficient information situation follows firefighter tightly, the

firefighter's life can be jeopardized (Hui, Wang, Chen, & Hung, 2018). Effective

suppression response and rescue operations require efficient and advanced training.

Equipped firefighter with the advancing information technology, such as IR, laser range-

finder, camera, augmented reality and an unmanned aerial vehicle for acquiring more

fire ground information may be useful for firefighting task (Hui, Wang, Chen, Hung,

2018). Modern technologies provide improving of this training and drill and decrease

expenses and price of a firefighter’s teaching program (Hozjan, Kempna, & Smolka,

2020)

Moreover, adequate provisions of fire service facilities are essential to ensure

sustainability through life safety, property protection, continuity of operations,

environmental protection, and heritage conservation. With the aim to assess sustainable

urbanization with the adequacy of fire service provision is essential to identify the
substantial service gaps for up-gradation in the fire service facility (Singh, Sabnani, &

Kapse, 2021). In Dhaka city, studies reveal that fire stations in their location are not

capable of covering approximately half of its population and the firefighting vehicles are

not adequate for the extinguishing operation as per the requirements of a specific

station coverage area. The most important challenges in the firefighting operation

include traffic congestion with deficiencies in the roadway network and scarcity of water

(Haque, 2019).

In China, one of the reasons firefighters arrive late is the severe traffic after a fire-

spread starts. High-rise buildings are also a significant problem for the firefighters during

operations. Since they cannot reach the top floors with their firefighting equipment, they

are bound to use the building's installed firefighting equipment before reaching the

highest floor affected by the fire. They also need to take the stairs since elevators may

be inaccessible, and after they reach their target floor, the flames might spread

everywhere and cause a disaster (Zadeh, Abdulwakil, Amar, Durante, & Santos, 2021).

The city of Toronto is experiencing rapid growth in vertical settlement patterns with the

construction of very tall high-rise residential buildings that are classified as super high-

rise's by the Ontario Building Code. Due to their height and complexity, SHR buildings

present challenges for firefighters during firefighting operations (Coulthard, 2018). In the

Philippines take too much time to finish due to the minimal resources and low upgrades

in technologies in the bureau of fire protection (BFP); the poor performance results to

increase the damage that makes it close to impossible to save all of the lives affected

by the fire flames (Zadeh, Abdulwakil, Amar, Durante, & Santos, 2021). Despite the
Bureau of Fire Protection fire management system in the Philippines, fire incidents have

been a critical issue in the country, affecting various individuals (Moore, 2019).

In the view above, the researcher were prompted to discover the major problems

encountered by the bureau of fire protection personnel in advancing fire suppression

related cases. The result of this study will help you better understand the ways on how

to prevent fire. specially, BFP personnel should conduct fire lectures and provide tips on

how to reduced fire incident so that the future researcher will gain more knowledge

about fire prevention.

Research Objectives

This study aims to know the Major Problems Encountered by the (BFP) Bureau

of Fire Protection personnel in advancing fire suppression in Korondal City

Specially, it will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What are the Demographic profile personnel in term of:

a. Age

b. Sex

c. Civil status;

d. Rank; and

e. Years in service
2. To determine the major problem encountered by the Bureau of Fire Protection

Personnel in Fire Suppression in Koronadal City

3. To draw implication in the result of the survey

Review of Related literatures

This chapter provides data that was found out to be beneficial to the study. This

was taken from the reliable sources as books, internet, pamphlets, journals and etc.

Local literature

Fire has been a recurring issue across the country due to weather and combustible

materials commonly employed in residential and industrial structures. The consistent

high fire records demonstrate that the BFP must continue to firmly implement its

strategic fire mitigation strategies. From 2013 to 2018, the Philippines had 15,733 fire

incidents per year on average, with 855 fire-related injuries and 253 fire-related deaths

(Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department, 2020).

According to previous research, fire incidences occurred most frequently

between 4 and 8 p.m. in Manila, Tondo, and Sampaloc. This outcome more than

doubles during the summer months, when all cooling appliances operate at full capacity.

Faulty electrical connections, unsupervised open flames, and cigarette butts are the

leading causes of fires. These are very widespread in densely populated areas. The
encoded fire data range from 2011 to 2015. According to the data, fires typically start in

informal settlements where most inhabitants lack understanding on fire prevention.

Furthermore, the majority of the shelter materials are constructed of combustible

materials. With these findings, the researchers suggested that further areas be

investigated.

According to Urrutia et al. (2018) on the other hand, used multiple linear

regression examined through EViews7 and MATLAB to analyze fire accidents within the

range 2016-2020. Balahadia and Trillanes (2017) complemented the results obtained by

Urrutia, et.al. having March with the greatest number of fire incidents in 2015 with 2,863

fire incidents (Urrutia et al., 2018). Aside from faulty electrical connections, spontaneous

combustion (in March 2015) and unattended cooking/stove (March 2015) is the top

cause of fire incidences. It has also to be noted that open flame due to torch (April

2014) and unattended lighted candle or gas station (from 2005 to 2010) contribute to an

increased number of figures in the data. Bringula and Balahadia (2019) further point out

that the perception of unattended cigarette butts will not cause big fire incidents should

be changed. The unattended cigarette butt in this study ranked second in this study

(Bringula & Balahadia, 2019). Faulty electrical wiring is the primary cause of fire

incidence, the government must have the political will to subject building owners to

standard electrical wiring designs.

Fire departments respond to numerous cases to save lives and protect valued

materials while countless obstacles make the task difficult and dangerous for both
firefighters and those in need of rescue (Veszprémi, & Pántya, 2021). The cost of fire

incidents is obviously enormous. It results in pains and death of victims, waste of time,

money and materials and damage to equipment and structures (Adegboro & Ojoye,

2019). For the past years, fire incidents have become a big problem for the Philippines,

since it affects the socioeconomic growth of the country (Asor, Lerios, Sapin, Padallan,

& Buama, 2021). Firefighting operations in the Philippines take too much time to finish

due to the minimal resources and low upgrades in technologies in the bureau of fire

protection (BFP); the poor performance results to increase the damage that makes it

close to impossible to save all of the lives affected by the fire incident (Zadeh,

Abdulwakil, Amar, Durante, & Santos, 2021).

More than 1,300 fire incident happened in the Philippines between 2015-2019, killing

thousands of people and destroying more than Php 40 billion in property ( Villa, &

Ceballos, 2021). The delay in the arrival of the fire department was due to obstacles

encountered, such as delay in was concerning enough to affect firefighters services

(Kahanji, Walls, & Cicione 2019).

Foreign Literature

The history of fire and fire fighting started thousands years ago and fire incidents

also took place. Many agencies, forces and groups had been established with the

passage of time for fire fighting and rescuing people from loss of lives and properties in
case of fire emergencies. According to the sources in the history, “the first ever fire

fighting crew had been formed by Caesar to protect Rome against fire” (Singh, 2008).

The first recorded major fire incident in the history of United States occurred at James

Town in 1608 within a year of its establishment which left huge losses of life, property

and money. Nonetheless, Boston city witnessed some major fire incidents with losses.

The city experienced ravaging fires in 1630, 1631, 1654 and 1676 serving as eye

opener for the administration to give a serious thought to fire fighting and fire

prevention. Consequently, new courts and rules regarding fire fighting including laws

pertaining to the usage of open spaces and fire resistant building material were

developed. Fire fighting departments were also established. These were the first

‘written’ rules pertaining to fire fighting and prevention (Singh, 2008).

Similarly great fire of London September 1666 ruined many buildings included

13,200 houses, 87 churches and left many direct and indirect deaths. There was very

basic knowledge and skills at that time and firefighters used basic resources like leather

buckets, axes and water squirts which had left little effect on fire. As a result London city

had to be totally reconstructed (Whitehall, 1666).

Quite recently, the major terrorist attack in New York City and Washington DC

witnessed the Fire departments as the Primary first responders. Although the local

responders orchestrated the immediate rescue efforts, their resources were strained.

The emergency responders encountered many of the same problems that are

experienced during catastrophic disasters. Communication system failed 911 call

centers were overwhelmed, trained personnel were in short supply interagency

communication was lacking or absent altogether, response plans were often ignored

and widely thought to be inadequate, interagency chains of command were often

ambiguous and more than 300 firefighters lost their lives while responding to attack on

the world Trade Center (The 9/11 Commission Report, W.W. Nortan & Company, 281).

Similarly, the loss of precious lives on 3rd May, 2013 “West fertilizer co explosion”

places a question-mark on the effectiveness of fire fighting departments and their

preparedness. It is pertinent to note that many of the life losses were of first responders

or voluntary fire fighters. (Simon, 2013)

In Austin, the University of Texas has a Fire Prevention

Service department that offers fire safety awareness. It

discusses escape plans, smoke alarms, candles and incense,

cooking, smoking, electricity, extension cords, and surge and

suppressers, heating, laundry, fueling, and handling gasoline,

and propane safety basics (University of Texas, Austin, 2018).

In New Jersey, the essentials of checking a smoke alarm and

regularly practicing a fire escape plan have become a routine

considering that residents whose house catches fire have as

little as two minutes to escape (United Ways of New Jersey,

2018). Hence, the urgency of fire awareness and prevention

necessitates the installation of smoke alarms on every part and

level of the home and testing them every month. Changing

batteries that are not working and practicing the exit plan at

least twice a year is also necessary. Notably, the American

Red Cross (ARC) advises that if a fire occurs in the home,

residents must immediately go out and call for help, never go back inside the house for

anything or anyone to prevent loss

of lives (The American National Red Cross, 2018).

Parenthetically, home fires can result in loss of properties and

death. However, communities can prevent these if residents

understand heat hazards, electrical hazards, general

housekeeping hazards, smoking hazards, kitchen hazards, and

fire safety in general (Fairfax County Fire and Rescue

Department, 2007; Federal Emergency Management Agency,

2018; Philippine Primer, 2018; The American National Red

Cross, 2018). Neckerman Insurance Services (2017) declared

that space heaters accounted for one-third of fires from 2007

to 2011. In the Philippines, open flames from unattended

stoves, faulty electrical connections, and lit cigarette butts are

the top three causes of fire incidents (ABS-CBN News, 2018).

In America, faulty outlets and appliances, light fixtures,

extension cords, space heaters, and wirings are also the

common causes of fires (FireRescue1 Staff, 2018).

In the same vein, the Tri-Star Insurance Professionals (2017)

asserts that kitchens remain one of the most dangerous rooms

in most homes. The U.S. Fire Administration estimated

164,500 cooking fires in residential buildings each year in the

United States. Thus, awareness of the various kitchen fire

hazards can help keep the home and family safe. To ensure

safety, people must know how to prevent and respond to any

fire emergency (Washburn University, 2018).

Local Studies

In the study of Aurelius T. Mercado (2018) the problems encountered by the fire

safety inspectors were the following: intervention from prominent figures; there were no

administrative/legal support; and trainings and seminars were limited. Building

administrators’ problems included the following: there were not enough fire safety

inspectors; inadequate equipment and intervention from prominent figures.

Recommendations to enhance the implementation were the following: develop and

designate qualified fire safety inspectors; representation by Mandaluyong Fire Station

management to BFP higher office; other sources of additional budget; acquisition of

equipment and supplies.

According to .... Despite the technological advancement in fire safety and

prevention, fire disaster remains the leading cause of lives and property loss at
commercial facilities worldwide and fire could lead to the premature winding up of an

organization no matter how big it is. The study revealed that use of Sub-standard

materials and faulty electrical appliances were the major causes of fire disaster in

commercial buildings. the study examined the level of fire disaster preparedness by the

owners of these commercial buildings in other to ensure life safety. The result revealed

that level of fire disaster preparedness was not adequate, because, there was

inadequate provision of the required fire safety and suppressive devices, unavailability

of fire safety trained personnel and lack of training and fire drill.

According to Ma Victoria Villanueva Umali (2021) As revealed on this study,

there are several problems that are prevalent among the existing buildings in the

Bulacan State University BulSU Main Campus .These buildings encounter various fire

safety and security problems it was noted during the site inspections conducted in the

eighteen (18) buildings at the campus that all buildings were not fully compliant with the

requirements provided under the said code. The most pressing concerns on BulSU’s

non-compliance with the code are the lack of full knowledge with fire and safety

requirements of the law, the absence fire brigade team or any official personnel

assigned to do the checking and upkeep of the requirements, and absence of the

proper regulatory permit requirements such as the building permits and occupancy

permit that have implemented by the local government units. Non-compliance also

contributed to the non-existing or inadequate number of safety items in each building.

Foreign Studies

According to Woon Chin Ong & Mohd Zailan Sulieman (2018) the study revealed

that, problems in implementation of fire safety management in Malaysia hospital

buildings it was found that the hospitals encountered problems in fire safety

management, such as documentation problems, combustible materials, lack of

installation of fire measures or outdated fire safety technology, locked doors due to the

security reasons, lack of training of hospital staff and blocking of fire safety systems.

These problems caused other fire accidents and killed and injured people in these fire

accidents. These problems caused other fire accidents and killed and injured people in

these fire accidents. These problems should be solved as soon as possible to prevent

similar tragedies.

The study by Shahnaz Akhter (2018) highlights key issues in fire emergency

response, including half-full information from callers due to panic or lack of awareness,

traffic control issues due to lack of education, unnecessary parking, media hype, and

coordination between traffic police and emergency services, and unavailability of police.

Building authorities also lack control on encroachment and staff awareness of fire safety

standards. Coordination is crucial for effective fire emergency response, but many

organizations lack information about their quick role. A significant number of

respondents are satisfied with the skills and steps taken by their organizations to

improve over time.

Theoretical Framework

Republic Act 9514, also known as the "Fire Code of the Philippines of 2008,"

provides support for this study, specifically the enforcement and adherence to basic fire

prevention and safety procedures (Republic Act No. 9514). The "hazard-barrier-target

model" devised by William Haddon Jr. (Haddon, 1973) likewise served as the study's

anchor. The "hazard-barrier-target model" is a systematic integration of risk reduction or

accident reduction measures. A hazard is a condition or action that has the potential to

cause injury or damage, such as injuries to individuals, damage to equipment,

properties, or the environment, or a diminished ability to function as planned. Barriers

are methods that avoid or limit the chance of undesirable events while retaining the

desired State. The target could be a person, an object, or a situation.

In essence, the hazard-barrier-target model is a method for assessing system

safety that identifies dangers and analyzes controls that can prevent the event from

occurring. The barrier technique expresses system control with a potentially hazardous

energy source, which may cause damage to either equipment or personnel (Haddon,

1970; Haddon, 1980).

Reason (1997) constructed a Swiss Cheese Model based on these premises to

explain the safety hypothesis. The safety theory was founded on the belief that a

defense-in-depth strategy may prevent mishaps. To put it another way, there are
multiple barriers in a system, each of which may have flaws and failures. Unwanted

occurrences can occur due to defects and failures in the barriers. Reason demonstrated

this with an intuitive depiction of a "Swiss Cheese," in which the cheese holes

represented failure in the barrier and was appropriately dubbed the Swiss Cheese

Model. If the risks pass through the holes (gaps), they can become a major incident or a

system breakdown. Reason differentiated between the phrases (latent failure) and

(active failure).

Reason differentiated between the phrases (latent failure) and (active failure). A

functional barrier failure caused by unknown factors is referred to as latent failure. It is

not visible. Active failure, on the other hand, is an observable operational loss that

occurs during the execution of barriers functions (Reason, 1997).

To explain the safety theory in the context of this study, consider the following

viewpoint: the government prevents fire threats by erecting barriers (fire codes, fire

safety inspections, and so on). However, if fires continue to occur despite the

precautions taken, there is a system (organization) failure. In other words, regardless of

whether the breakdown was latent or active, the system requires a study to introduce an

intervention, revamp, or completely dismantle to make way for a new system, based on

the study's findings.

Rogers' (1975) Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) was another valuable theory

for this investigation. Roger's purpose was to define man's motivation to respond to any
perceived health hazard. This study contextualizes PMT as the motive of building

owners to comply with building standards in order to avoid the looming dangers of fires

caused by non-compliance with the building code (Rogers, 1975)

Conceptual Framework

The major concept of this study focused on the major problem encountered by

the Bureau of Fire Protection Personnel for advancing Fire Suppression in Koronadal

City.

Input

Major Problems encountered by

the Bureau of Fire Protection in
Advancing Fire Suppression in
Koronadal City

Implications

Conceptual Framework
The diagram illustrated above shows the upper box serves as the input where in the

researcher will have to determine the major problems encountered by the bureau of fire

protection personnel in advancing fire suppression in koronadal city

The second box represent as implications

Significant of the study

The researcher believe that the following will gain significant benefits from the

result of the study.

Bureau of Fire Protection. The goal of this research is to better understand, analyze,

and make recommendations for how to resolve the issue faced by the Bureau of Fire

Protection firefighters in the city of Koronadal in order to avoid and fire incidents.

Department of Interior and Local Government. The Bureau of Fire Protection is

under the direct control of this organization. This agency may be able to address the

specific issue raised by this study using the research's findings.

Local Government Unit. The LGU's responsibility is to look out for the community's

welfare. By focusing on the Bureau of Fire Protection's issues and providing relief

for its current constraints, this research might enable the local government entity.
Community. The community will gain from the addressing of issues faced by Bureau of

Fire Protection firemen in order for them to properly carry out their duties and

responsibilities as the society that requires assistance during disasters.

Researcher. This study would help the researcher to broaden this knowledge on the

subject at hand. The knowledge got from the study would enable her to ensure her skill

for the future researcher endeavor particularly in terms of fire suppression Further, it

also provides her with up-to-date information regarding the preparation on how to

overcome the difficulties in conducting drug related cases.

Future Researcher. The implications and recommendations of this study can aid the

future researchers with regards to them to their future subject of this study. This study

would benefit the future researcher by using it as a reference for this study or related

field.

Definition of Terms

The following terms were used operationally and conceptually by the researcher

to easily understand the words used in the study.

Fire.

Suppresion
Fire suppression

Chapter ll

METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the methodological structure of the study is presented. The

chapter is divided into six sections. The first sections outline the research design,

followed by the locale of the study, the research instrument used, the respondent and

sampling used, procedure in data collection, and how the data were analyzed.

Research design

The researcher used the Descriptive Survey method of research. This method

would like to determine the Major Problems encountered by the Bureau of Fire

Protection on Implementing Fire Prevention. Descriptive survey research uses survey to

gather data about varying subject. This data aim to know the major problems

encountered by the BFP personnel. Its purposed was to conduct a survey and gather

data about Fire Prevention in the City of Koronadal.

Locale of the study

 The respondents of this study are the Bureau of Fire Protection personnel

assigned in the City of Koronadal, South Cotabato. This is the best setting for gathering

data and it is more convenience for the researcher to conduct a study within this locality.

Population and sample

Purposive and Convenience sampling is used to assess the sample size based

on the study’s goal. Total of _______BFP personnel at Koronadal City are sampled

using the purposeful sampling process.

Research Instrument

Research Instrument are the tools used in collecting, measuring, and analyzing

data or Information related to a particular subject.

In this study, the questionnaire was used to obtain data relevant to the study

objectives and research question. Researcher gathers information from the BFP

personnel by distributing formulated questionnaire that were formulated by the

researcher which validated by his adviser and other expert validator. It answers on the

Major problems encountered by the BFP personnel on Implementing Fire Prevention.

 The respondents responded according to the five-point Likert Scale below.

NUMERICAL RATING DESCRIPTIVE RATING

5 ALWAYS

4 OFTENTIMES

3 SOMETIMES

2 SELDOME

1 NEVER

Data Gathering Procedures

Upon the approval of thesis proposal, the researcher asked permission from the

Chief or the Head of Bureau of fire protection Station to conduct the study through a

formal letter or request noted by the research adviser and the Dean of the College of

Criminal Justice Education. After it has been approved, the researcher will set the

schedule to conduct a survey in the Koronadal City BFP personnel.

In conducting the survey, the researcher presented the first consent letter to the

participants. The participants are also oriented about the survey protocols and

intentions of the study. The welfare of the participants was the priority of the researcher.

Privacy and confidentiality were observed at all times, particularly name of the
participants and other information unnecessary to the study. The researcher adhere the

guidelines set by the Republic Act No. 10173 known as the “Data Privacy Act of 2012”.

Through these, the researcher assured the privacy and confidentiality of this

quantitative research. Further, during the survey the researcher informed the

participants about the intentions of the study. After the retrieval of the questionnaire, the

data were tallied and tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using the statistical tool.

Statistical treatment of data

In order to assure the probability and nullity of the obtained data from the

respondents, statistical treatment data were employed. The total response for each item

obtained were tabulated and interpreted by the researcher. All information gathered

where computed statistically and analyzed using the percentage, frequency and

weighted mean.

This study is to determine the major problems encountered by the Bureau of Fire

protection personnel in advancing fire suppression, the researcher used the Likert Scale

and the Weighted mean. The Likert Scale was used to allow the respondents to express

the difficulties encountered by Koronadal City Philippine National Police on drug related

cases if they Always, Very Often, Sometimes, Rarely and Never. The weighted Mean

was used to determine their overall perception.

Ethical considerations

In conducting this study, the researcher were first cleared and addressed

particularly the selection and the conduct of the survey to the participants. Adhering to

the study protocol, and all the guidelines in the study. The researcher carried out this

study that examined the respondent’s availability and desire to participate. They also

observed the following list of principles throughout the study.

Voluntary Participation. The researcher ensured that all respondents involve in the

study were given free will to participate without any form of consequence or penalty

their refusal to participate does not involve any penalty or lose of benefits and their

signed consent does not mean of waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies from this

study.

Privacy and Confidentiality. All the relevant information provided by the participants

during the data collection was kept with utmost confidentiality. Thus, only the researcher

had the access to these information’s, and was used for exclusively for the purpose of

the study.

Informed Consent Process. The researcher politely approached the respondents of

the study and explain the purpose of the undertaking. The researcher insured that the
respondents understood the purpose the study before answering the questions

prepared for them. No respondents were allowed to participate during the data

collection without knowing the purpose as well as without their consent.

Risks. Due to general issue discussed in this study, this study imposed low to no risks

towards the respondents during the data collection.