OUTGOING Bureau of Fire Protection – National Capital Region (BFP-NCR) director Senior Supt. Wilberto Rico Neil Kwan-Tiu yesterday distributed 254 breathing apparatus to the five districts during the turn-over of command, making his successor very proud to him.
Kwan-Tiu formally turned his post over to his immediate upper classman Senior Supt. Roel Jeremy Diaz in a simple but productive ceremony at the BFP-NCR grounds in Quezon City.
Diaz belongs to the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) batch 1994 while Kwan-Tiu is his underclass.
Not all firemen responding to destructive fires are armed with breathing apparatus for trapped victims which also makes it harder for them to penetrate longer inside smoke-filled buildings.
In November last year, a fireman in a heroic act, decided to just lend his breathing apparatus to a four-month baby during a breath-taking rescue operation inside a burning condominium in Quezon City.
The fireman SFO1 Florencio Azonsa as a result, suffered a heart attack after saving the baby and five others inside one of the rooms of Francesca Tower at the 1070 EDSA corner Scout Borromeo in Brgy. South Triangle.
Aside from the breathing apparatus, Kwan-Tiu also showed media men the soon-to-be launched Fire Command Operation Center (FCOC) located at the third floor of the NCR building.
With still a few finishing touches to be done, the FCOC according to Kwan-Tiu will be a big help in monitoring fire incidents that will occur in the metropolis.
FCOC will also make the work of responding firemen easier since it has MMDA-controlled cameras covering in major and strategic thoroughfares of Metro Manila.
In his speech that went for more than an hour, Kwan-Tiu enumerated what he has done in his nine-month stint as NCR commander among them were the Fire Lane Policy in EDSA, Lingguhang Babala, Oplan Lakbay Alalay, Kiddie Fire Marshals among others not to mention those which are still pending for implementation.
