BY FELIPE CELINO
ROXAS City — Fire officers here cited several violations of fire safety requirements among stall owners and vendors in the Teodoro Arcenas Trade Center during a surprise inspection recently.
Among these are the use of substandard electrical wires, tampered fuses, dangling electrical connections, and the absence of fire alarms, said Fire Officer 2 Marlon Garbo, public information officer of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) here.
Also, some fire extinguishers at the stalls were nonfunctional, Garbo said.
“Violators will be given a number of days to comply with fire safety requirements to avoid stiffer penalties from the BFP and the city government,” he said.
Three groups of firemen conducted the inspection in view of a BFP regional office directive to check the compliance of public markets in Western Visayas with fire safety requirements after a fire razed a commercial center in Estancia, Iloilo.
Various BFP stations in the municipalities will also conduct inspections in their respective areas of responsibility.
