9 fire incidents logged on New Year's Day — BFP

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in the National Capital Region (NCR) logged nine fire incidents on the first day of New Year 2025.

In a radio interview on Wednesday, BFP spokesperson Fire Senior Supt. Annalee Carbajal-Atienza said one fire incident has been confirmed, while details for the other eight are still being verified.

“So far, the report that reached the National Headquarters was there was one fire incident. However, in our unofficial report, in NCR we noted nine fire incidents from 12:17 AM until 5:21 AM,” she said.

Citing reports, the BFP spokesperson confirmed that a third-alarm fire broke out at a general merchandise building in Malabon City at around 5 a.m., but no casualties were recorded. She noted that the cause of the fire remains under investigation as of this press time.

Atienza highlighted that one of the leading causes of fires during New Year celebrations is the use of firecrackers.

“There were incidents caused by firecrackers and it’s because of the mechanism. For example is kwitis [skyrocket], once it goes up, we cannot control where it would go,” she said.

“Whether a firecracker or firework is considered legal or not, it may be a cause of fire. Another example is fountain if we don’t improvise a stable holder for it, there are tendencies that it would fall on its side and the embers of fire might accidentally go to houses made of light materials or worse, injure spectators,” she added.

Meanwhile, Atienza noted that this year’s recorded fire incidents in Metro Manila are fewer compared to the same date last year.

“In the official report is one fire incident this 1 January, last year it was 54. So, we can see a big decrease,” she said.

She attributed this decrease to increased public awareness of fire prevention measures during New Year celebrations.

“We can really see the difference in the number of cases. We can attribute this to [the people’s awareness]. It seems they were traumatized because of what happened to some of our kababayan who were victimized before. Sad to note, they became a sacrificial lamb so that other communities would learn a lesson,” she noted.