According to a GMA online news report, two volunteer firefighters were assaulted by residents while responding to a fire last Friday afternoon in Barangay 650, in the Port Area in Manila.
The two volunteers had arrived at the fire scene ahead of others, but were still waiting for the water supply to catch up so they really couldn’t do anything. Two residents got upset and attacked them with a piece of wood.
‘I was beaten because I was waiting for water, as there was no supply yet. Now, they said there was no water, so they beat me. The water supply came later on. There were two of them. They hit me in the back with wood and another firefighter volunteer, so I ran immediately,’ one of them was quoted as saying in the same report.
The two fire volunteers are planning to sue the two men.
Thankfully, the assault came from just those two men. If the entire neighborhood had gone after them their injuries could have been worse.
This wasn’t the first time firefighters or volunteers were vented on. A few years back here in Cebu City, a firefighter was punched by a police asset whom he had ignored when he insisted that his house be saved first.
We understand emotions can run high when a fire is threatening to destroy everything you own, and civilians grabbing fire hoses or interfering with ground operations during such incidents aren’t unheard of, but attacks like these remain rare, thankfully.
But still, this incident shows how one shouldn’t behave toward firefighters or fire volunteers, especially in the case of volunteers who aren’t getting regular pay for the extra they do. And they are in as much danger as regular firefighters are when they rush to contain a fire.
Firefighters and fire volunteers should also be left alone to do their job. They have been training for years how to handle a fire. Getting involved in a fire operation like grabbing the hoses or insisting where they should spray water first will only add to the delay and the chances of more houses getting damaged or destroyed.