CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela (PIA) - - The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) - Cauayan City and SM City Cauayan have joined the nationwide fire drill held on March 13, 2023.

Krystal Gayle Agbulig, SM City Cauayan public relations manager, said the nationwide fire drill was participated in by all SM Malls in the country and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) as part of the observance of Fire Prevention Month.

This year’s Fire Prevention Month theme is “Sa Pag-iwas ng Sunog Hindi ka Nag-iisa.”

Agbulig said that the location of the main fire drill in the country was in SM City North EDSA with a simulation of a strong earthquake hitting the metro resulting in considerable damage to buildings, the occurrence of fire, search and rescue of victims where the BFP demonstrated their capabilities in rescuing a victim trapped under collapsed structure in the 5th floor of the mall by rope rappelling to the ground floor. 

Agbulig said that the SM City Cauayan, about 200 mall employees participated in the fire drill simulation on Monday where the Emergency Response Group (ERG) of the mall was activated as soon as the fire was reported. 

She said the Fire Brigade team of the mall immediately responded to the fire incident while the Rescue and Medical Teams responded to the victims. On the other hand, the Communications Team coordinated the incident with the response forces and accounted for the total number of participants. 

“The SM Supermalls nationwide fire drill in partnership with the BFP is essential to amplify the commitment to contribute to the creation of risk-resilient societies and promoting a global and national culture of disaster risk reduction and resiliency. The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) of SM and BFP gives priority to the constant training of SM’s personnel to respond to disasters including earthquakes and destructive fires to ensure the safety of SM’s stakeholders including customers, tenants, employees, nearby communities and the general public,” Agbulig said.

She said that the PPP of SM and BFP also include fire prevention seminars with tenants and employees and the conduct of BFP awareness activities inside SM facilities like the Mobile Business One Stop Shop (MBOSS), Fire Square Road Show, and Oplan Iwas Paputok. Information dissemination campaigns on fire prevention are amplified with the use of cinemas, electronic billboards and social media platforms.

“The partnership between SM and BFP demonstrates the progress made by the two entities in preventing disaster risks and losses of lives, livelihood and health – in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2023, Agbulig said. (OTB/MGE / PIA Isabela)