The city government of Marikina on Monday received two modern pumper fire trucks from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to further boost and strengthen its firefighting capabilities.

Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro personally received the two 1,000-gallon capacity fire trucks from Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Senator Juan Edgardo Angara and BFP chief Fire Director Louie Puracan during a turnover ceremony at the BFP national headquarters in Quezon City.

With the addition of the two new modern pumper fire trucks, the BFP-Marikina now has a total of seven functional fire trucks.

Teodoro underscored the importance of strong cooperation between the local government and national government in order to streamline the delivery of services to the people.

“Dapat complimentary ang gawin— the national and the local. Katulad nito, nagbigay ng fire trucks ang national, ika-capacitate natin ‘yung ating mga BFP personnel na naka-assign from the BFP in terms of training. Tapos, ‘yung mga istasyon nila, i-improve namin—‘yung setup nila (All efforts should be complimentary — the national and the local government. Similarly, the national government provided fire trucks, we will capacitate our BFP personnel assigned from the BFP in terms of training. Then, we will improve their stations—their setup),” Teodoro said.

“Makikita natin na kapag magkatulong talaga ang national at local ay masisigurado natin ang public safety, mas mabibigay natin ang mga serbisyong kailangan ng ating mga mamamayan (We will see that when the national and local really help each other, we can ensure public safety, we can better provide the services that our citizens need),” he stressed.

Teodoro thanked the DILG and the BFP for the modern fire trucks, noting that these would be veru useful assets in ensuring the safety of the public.

“Napakahalaga ng public safety, at sa tulong ng mga bagong fire truck na ito maitataas pa natin ang kapasidad ng bawat estasyon ng bumbero sa Marikina (Public safety is very important, and with the help of these new fire trucks we will be able to increase the capacity of every fire station in Marikina),” he said.

Supt. Nestor Gorio, Marikina fire marshal, said the city presently has five firefighting assets — three pumper fire trucks, one ladder fire truck and one rescue fire truck.

He noted that the BFP-Marikina personnel who will operate the new fire trucks will undergo training.

During Monday’s rites, a total of 74 1,000-gallon firetrucks were distributed to cities and municipalities nationwide as part of the BFP’s vision of a modern fire service fully capable of ensuring a fire-safe nation by 2034.

Abalos, in his message, lauded the BFP for completing the procurement of 222 units of fire trucks in 2022, which are expected to be delivered in June this year.

He added that this distribution is very timely for the observance of Fire Prevention Month this March.

Abalos, meanwhile, urged the BFP to coordinate with local government units to establish more fire stations by means of usufruct.

“We are cognizant of the gap in terms of the firefighting capability of the BFP the providing the BFP which is why we are exerting our best efforts to address the issues and concerns in the bureau. For one, we are faced with the challenge of providing the bureau with modern unit of firetrucks which can be more responsive to emergency calls and fire disasters. We must acknowledge that we need to fill in 1,201 firetrucks to achieve our ideal firetrucks to population ratio,” he added. (PNA)