FIRE PREVENTION PROGRAM (FPP) OF THE BUREAU OF FIRE

PROTECTION (BFP) in URDANETA CITY

____________________________________

A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
Pangasinan State University
Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

__________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master in Development Management
major in Public Management

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by

ERNESTO F. GANDIA
March 2008
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher wishes to express his heartfelt and profound gratitude to all those

unselfishly helped and contributed to the realization of this academic endeavor.

Specifically, he invokes the Almightys blessings upon the following:

Dr. Eusebio F. Miclat, Jr., Campus Dean of PSU Bayambang and presently the

MDM Program Adviser in the PSU Graduate School, Urdaneta City campus, whose

fatherly advice, untiring efforts, and constant encouragement pushed the researcher to

pursue the completion of the study and for his scholarly suggestions have greatly

improved the paper.

Dr. Josefina B. Bitonio and Dr. Domingo M. Cabarteja, my adviser and critic

reader, respectively, of this study, for their never ending advice, continuous support and

corrections up to the completion of this endeavor;

Dr. Zenaida U. Suyat and Professor Meliton G. Dassun, Dean and professor,

respectively, of PSU Graduate School, for all their words of encouragement that helped

the researcher defeat his fears and reservations;

Dr. Florita G. Lopez, Associate Dean PSU-GS, for her guidance to the researcher

regarding the sequential procedures in the preparation of the defense;

Sr. Supt. Rodrigo R. Abrazaldo and Supt. Leonard M. Consolacion, Regional

Director, Bureau of Fire Protection Region 1 and Provincial Fire Marshal of Pangasinan,

respectively, for the former guidance and understanding to the researcher relevant to his

duties and functions and the latter approval to gather data and administer the instrument;

To all the employees of the PSU Graduate School, Urdaneta City, for being

hospitable and courteous to the researcher every time we rubbed elbows in their offices;
 To all the uniform and non uniform BFP personnel of Urdaneta City Fire Station,

Dagupan City Fire Station and Office of the Provincial Fire Marshal, Pangasinan, for

giving their unwavering assistance and support in gathering data and information that

significantly contributed to the completion of the study;

To a person whose name was not included, but in one way or another played an

important role that contributed in the success of this undertaking;

His dearest wife, Tita, and daughters Tephanie and Steffi, who served as his

inspirations in the completion of this thesis; and

Above all, to the Almighty God, whom he gets his vigor and knowledge that

served as his weapon and screen in making this masterpiece a success.

ERNESTO F. GANDIA
 DEDICATION

lovingly

and heartily

dedicate this humble

work to all the men and women

of the Fire Service for their dedication to serve

the country, took risk and heedless of their lives,

so that others may survive

EFG
 ABSTRACT

Researcher: ERNESTO F. GANDIA

Degree / Specialization: Master in Development Management,

Public Management

Research Title: FIRE PREVENTION PROGRAM (FPP) OF THE

BUREAU OF FIRE PROTECTION (BFP) in
URDANETA CITY

Adviser: Josefina B. Bitonio, D.P.A.

Institution: Pangasinan State University Graduate School

Address: Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

The study evaluated the Fire Prevention Program (FPP) particularly the

enforcement phase of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in the city of Urdaneta during

the period of 2006 to 2007, as to whether it was fully implemented or not. It also

determined the extent of compliance by the business/building owners/occupants to the

standards of the Fire Code of the Philippines (FCP), as assessed by the BFP personnel of

Urdaneta City and the level of effectiveness in the implementation of the FPP, as

perceived by the BFP personnel and residents of the city. The problems encountered by

the BFP personnel and residents in the implementation and compliance of the FPP, and

their solutions adopted in their encountered problems were also looked into. The study

tested the following null hypotheses, viz. :( 1) There is no significant relationship

between the selected socio-demographic profile of the BFP personnel and the level of

effectiveness in the implementation of the Fire Prevention Program in Urdaneta City, and

(2) There is no significant difference in the level of effectiveness in the implementation

of the Fire Prevention Program in Urdaneta City as perceived by the BFP personnel and

the residents.

The study used the descriptive-evaluative research design. The major instruments

used were the two sets of questionnaires, one for the BFP personnel (implementers) and

the other was for the business/building owners/occupants (residents). The content

validity of both instruments were computed and established. Said questionnaires were

pilot tested to a few BFP personnel of Dagupan City Fire Station and residents of

Dagupan City.

The business/building owners/occupants were randomly selected using sampling

techniques from the copy of the official records provided by the Business Permit

Licensing Office of the City of Urdaneta.

The hypotheses of the study were tested using the t-test for correlated means and

difference between means at .05 level of significance.

Summary of Findings

Socio-demographic Profiles of the BFP personnel.

a. Pertaining to age, the average age of the BFP personnel assigned in Urdaneta

is 39.78. The youngest is 28 years old while the oldest is 53 years old.

b. Concerning the educational attainment, majority of the BFP personnel (66.7%)

assigned in Urdaneta had finished their Baccalaureate Degree.

c. Looking into the years of service, a little more than one-third (38.90%) of the

BFP personnel have 10 and below years of service, while a little more than one-fourth

(27.80%) had rendered 11-15 years of service

 d. By rank, a little more than one-fourth (27.8%) of the BFP personnel have the

rank of FO1.

e. For training attended, four-fifths(83.3%) of the implementors had finished their

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course (PSBRC) or Fire Service Basic Course (FSBC), while

a little less than two-fifths (38.9%) had undergone Fire Arson Investigation and

Inspection Course (FAIIC) No one among the personnel attended the Fire Alarm and

Detection Seminar.

Level of Effectiveness in the Implementation of the Fire Prevention Program

(FPP).

a. On the conduct of fire safety inspection as a requirement to the grant of permits

and/or licenses, for the occupancy of the building and installation of fire protection and

fire safety equipment, the personnel and the residents have the same descriptive rating of

High.

b. On the requirements for businesses, structures, premises and facilities in

Urdaneta City, the personnel and the residents apparently differ in their perception with

regards to the level of effectiveness of the FPP in Urdaneta City on fire safety

requirements to businesses, structures and their premises or facilities, the BFP rated

High compared to the residents rating of Moderate.

c. On the requirement of fire safety measures for hazardous materials, the BFP

rated it High. Conversely, the residents rated Low.

Extent of Compliance to the Fire Code of the Philippines. The BFP personnel

assessed the compliance of the standards of the FCP as High.

 Problems Encountered by the BFP Personnel in the Implementation of the

FPP. The problems encountered by the implementers of the FPP in Urdaneta City were

ranked from one to nine in terms of magnitude as follows: (1) lack of firefighting

equipments (2) lack of fire personnel to implement the FPP (3) old and dilapidated fire

trucks (4). lack of financial and logistical support (5) Lack of cooperation or willingness

on the part of the building/business owners/occupants on fire prevention program; (6)

Political/VIP interventions; and (7) Inadequate communication equipment (8) lack of

enough information and knowledge on the provisions of PD 1185 and (9) lack of

investigative gear and equipment to be used in fire investigation.

Problems Encountered by the Residents. The problems were ranked from one

to six in terms of seriousness namely: (1) Lack of financial resources to comply the

requirements (2) unclear and inappropriate Fire Code requirement/s recommended by the

BFP for the residents to comply (3) proliferation of person not a BFP personnel posing as

a fire safety inspector (4) the conduct of fire safety inspection by BFP personnel who are

not in proper uniform. (5) very short time given to them to comply for the requirements

(6) corrupt BFP personnel implementing the FPP.

Solutions Adopted by the BFP Personnel. The solutions were also ranked one

to six based on the number of responses as follows: (1) conduct more Fire Safety

Education to the residents (2) allocate more funds for the Fire Prevention Program (3)

the reassignment or recruitment of additional BFP personnel to increase the existing

personnel and the BFP or LGU to purchase or provide additional firefighting equipment

to be used by fire personnel of Urdaneta City (4) coordinate to the politician/VIP

regarding their interventions and explain to them the importance of the program and the
possible consequences if all of the time the BFP acceded or granted their request and BFP

to purchase new fire trucks (5) opportunity for more training on Fire Arson Investigation

& Inspection Course and other related courses pertaining to the Fire Code should be

provided by the BFP to all interested BFP personnel and (6) BFP or LGU to purchase or

provide additional radios/telephone and cell phones to be used by fire personnel of

Urdaneta City.

Solutions Adopted by the Residents. Only 16-29% of the residents adopted

some solution to the problems encountered with the BFP in the implementation of the

latter of the FPP which were ranked one to six accordingly based on the number of

responses as follows (1) e recommendation/s should be within the provisions of the Fire

Code of the Philippines (2) e no entertaining of person conducting fire safety inspection if

not in proper uniform and no ID to present (3) s the business owners/occupants should be

given more leeway in the compliance of the requirement/s of the Fire Code of the

Philippines and report immediately any corrupt actions undertaken by BFP personnel to

his superior, Local Chief Executive or the media (4) s the BFP personnel should be more

courteous and careful in conducting fire safety inspection (5) owners/occupants should be

given more enough extension of time in complying the Fire Code requirement/s (6) BFP

personnel conducting inspection should be in proper uniform.

Test of Hypotheses.

a. The relationship of the selected socio-demographical profile of BFP personnel

in Urdaneta City to the level of effectiveness in the implementation of the FPP is found

all to be not significant.

 b. There is a significant difference in the level of effectiveness in the

implementation of the Fire Prevention Program in Urdaneta City as perceived by the BFP

personnel and the residents. The BFP personnel and residents differ in their perception in

the level of effectiveness in the implementation of the FPP on the conduct of fire safety

inspection and in the implementation of the FPP on the fire safety measures on hazardous

materials.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are arrived at:

The BFP personnel of Urdaneta City are relatively young, highly educated,

experienced, well positioned in the rank and file, well trained in Fire Safety Basic

Course, but wanting in Fire Safety Advance Courses.

The level of effectiveness by BFP and the resident s in the implementation of the

Fire Prevention Program (FPP) in Urdaneta manifested a High rating.

On the extent of compliance by the city residents to the standards of the Fire Code

of the Philippines (PD 1185), the BFP personnel gave a rating of High.

The top three problems observed by the BFP personnel in the implementation of

the FPP in Urdaneta City are: (1) lack of firefighting equipment, (2) lack of personnel,

and (3) old and dilapidated fire trucks. On the part of the city residents, identified

problems are: (1) lack of financial resources, (2) unclear and inappropriate requirements

of the Fire Code on their part, and (3) proliferation of individuals posing as fire safety

inspectors.

Solutions adopted to identified problems by the BFP personnel are (1) conduct

and dissemination of Fire Safety Education, (2) allocation of more funds by the DILG-
BFP and the city government, and (3) increase number of BFP personnel, while the city

residents recommendations are : (1) Dissemination of the provisions of the Fire Code of

the Philippines, (2) rejection of BFP fire safety inspector who cannot present an ID and

not in uniform, and (3) flexibility and leeway in the compliance with the Fire Code.

The BFP personnels selected profiles variables were found to be not significantly

related in the level of effectiveness in the implementation of the FPP while the

perceptions of the BFP personnel And the city residents on the level of effectiveness

were all found to be significantly different.

RECOMMENDATIONS

On the basis of the foregoing findings and conclusions, the following

recommendations are forwarded:

1. BFP personnel in Urdaneta City should given the opportunity to attend training

programs particularly on Fire Safety Advance Courses. DILG and if possible the city

government should add more personnel for the unit in Urdaneta City.

2. DILG-BFP should address directly the problems of the BFP in Urdaneta City

particularly on:

a. Lack of firefighting equipments;

b. Provisions of new fire trucks; and

c. Additional allotment for supplies and materials.

3. BFP Urdaneta City should give more information and education campaign on

the Fire Code of the Philippines. These campaigns should be conducted in the barangays

with support of the city council and the barangay council in the city.
 4. BFP Urdaneta City should closely police its rank and file to eliminate

instances of fire safety impostors. It should also conduct regular inspections of buildings

and business establishments of different type of occupancies, to negate the occurrence of

fire.

5. Replication of the study is also recommended.

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