CCFO intensifies info drive on use of Christmas lights

FILE PHOTO: Children walk past Christmas lanterns known locally as ‘parol’ on display along a street in Manila on December 24, 2018. (Photo by MARIA TAN / AFP)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Fire Office (CCFO) has intensified its information drive on the proper use of Christmas lights as these kinds of lights can now be seen in some houses and places in the city especially with Christmas Day just a couple of months away.

Senior Fire Officer 2 (SFO2) Wendell Villanueva, information officer of the Cebu City Fire Office (CCFO), said they were coming out with these reminders because they were expecting Cebuanos to come out and celebrate Christmas since they had not done so in the past two years due to the pandemic and typhoon Odette.

Villanueva said that these reminders could help prevent fires caused by the improper use of Christmas lights.

He urged the public not to reuse Christmas lights that were displayed in past Christmas holidays especially those that were exposed to the wrath of Odette.

He said it would be safer to just buy another set of lights because reusing those ones used in the past Christmas would increase the risk of fires.

He also urged the public to make sure that they would only buy Christmas lights that had the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) mark on them.

This will ensure that they are using a high quality product.

He urged the public not to risk their houses over substandard series lights.

Villanueva also said that they had already coordinated with the Department of Trade Industry and other concerned agencies here for their planned inspection of vendors or stores selling series lights in the city.

Aside from that, he also said that one should also limit the time of use of Christmas lights.

“Do not use this overnight as this may result in overheating and melting of the wires inside,” Villanueva said.

He said that they were giving these reminders to lessen the risk of fires caused by Christmas lights.

Villanueva, however, said that in December last year, most of the fires they responded to were rubbish fires.

He said that these were perhaps due to the fallen trees and leaves due to Odette.

He said that the leaves might have dried due to the heat and caused it to spark, starting the fire.

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