DECONTAMINATION. SBMA firefighters disinfect facilities at the Subic Bay Freeport to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. So far, the SBMA Fire Department had disinfected 110 buildings and offices, including 34 SBMA properties. (File photo by SBMA)
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Zambales – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Fire Department is responding to fight an unseen global disaster that already took millions of lives around the world.
It is a fight in a different scenario with the use of neither fire trucks nor powerful water nozzles.
They respond with handy sprayers filled with solutions to decontaminate and disinfect facilities to help stop the spread of the unseen pandemic disaster, the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
"The action is all part of the contingency plan of the Fire Department. We need to be proactive, it’s the way risk managers should think,” SBMA Fire Department chief Ranny Magno said in an interview Friday.
Magno said when the cruise ship MV World Dream with some 800 passengers from China were not allowed to dock in the Port of Subic in January this year, they decided to start preparations and plans.
He said part of it was the training on disinfection and decontamination procedures, orientation, and understanding of the Covid-19.
As part of their preparations, the SBMA Fire Department was able to purchase hazardous materials (HAZMAT) suits, personal protective equipment (PPEs), and three backpack sprayers.
For disinfectant and decontaminant solutions, the firefighters use chlorine granules mixed with clean water, an ingenuity done three months before the Department of Health (DOH) officially endorsed chlorine solution as an effective disinfectant against Covid-19.
In April, the DOH issued interim guidelines on the use of chemical disinfectant and identified chlorine granules (calcium hypochlorite) mixed with water as an effective chemical disinfectant solution against Covid-19 which was rapidly infecting the country.
Meanwhile, as early as January, SBMA chairman, and administrator Wilma Eisma ordered the disinfection of all SBMA offices, especially those frequented by clients, and encouraged Freeport residents and locators to do the same.
Eisma said it is a challenge bringing back business to life in the midst of the pandemic, the economy should reopen.
While Covid-19 is not comparable to what they responded to in the previous years, Magno and his team took the initiative of learning the proper disinfection at the workplace and planned the response they need to take.
Knowing the proper procedures, he said, is very important to ease the routine work on actual disinfection procedures.
“Every step must be precise on this pandemic,” he said.
In the freeport, most of the hotels went closed since March due to the lockdown.
Fortunately, for the firefighters, hotel owners learned about the project and donated their stocks of chlorine granules.
“There are two hotels, the Segara Hotel and Wow Hotel, both have large swimming pools, donated to us chlorine granules, from their stocks,” Magno said. Chlorine granules are used in cleaning swimming pools.
He said certain Filipino retired US Marine who donated two pieces of back-pack sprayers for use of the firemen.
When all preparations were completed, the project commenced on March 14 with SBMA Pass and ID Building the first facility disinfected.
From that day on until June 30, the SBMA Fire Department had conducted decontamination and disinfection on 110 buildings and offices, including 34 SBMA properties.
Simultaneously, the Fire Prevention Division of the SBMA Fire Department performed Covid-19 health protocol inspection and orientation to each locator, especially the manufacturing, prior to the resumption of operation after a long interruption caused by the lockdown in March.
Magno noted that his team managed to inspect 936 companies from May to August, including some big manufacturing companies like Koryo Subic, the Sanyo Denki, and Wistron Infocomm Phils.
The team was very happy to note that all of the hotels they inspected complied with the health protocols, like safe physical distancing, and each room and other health protocols.
Vista Marina, for example, has 81 rooms, but limits its guests to 107 or a 1:2 room/guest ratio, and observe two persons per table only.
Meanwhile, key personnel and safety officers various companies in the Freeport were given an orientation and training on “Business Continuity Amidst Pandemic”, which focus on understanding the virus, the safety measures to follow and how to avoid it and the health protocols being implemented by the government to companies operating under pandemic.
“It is a hard task for us because we are all exposed to the virus. Fortunately, everyone (of the firefighters) was diagnosed negative, except for one who is asymptomatic, and that all it takes to make us happy and relieve,” Magno said.
Asked why they are doing this despite the danger of being infected, he responded saying, “we need to do this so that people- the residents, the workers, and investors, will see that we are doing something for their safety. And so, they will feel safe while they are here.”
In July, SBMA announced “new normal” in the Freeport and allowed tourism-related businesses to resume operations after a long break.
The SBMA Fire Department sometimes referred to as the SBMA Fire and Rescue Team (FRT), was conferred also the Gawad KALASAG (National Level) 2009 Award for “extraordinary courage, heroism, self-sacrifice, and bravery against all odds in times of emergencies and disasters.”
The SBMA firefighters gained respect with their skills in suppressing and controlling all types of fire-small or massive, in an open field or in structures.
If given an opportunity, they are more than willing to conduct pieces of training on disaster preparedness, quick emergency response, and risk mitigation, free of charge. (PNA)
