Mandaluyong City Mayor Neptali M. Gonzales II immediately ordered the expansion of the city’s Fire Department to accommodate the new firefighters. The construction of the extension of the building started last April 3.

Chief Supt. Benjamin A. Ladra, head of the Mandaluyong Fire Department, said the move is part of the rationalization program of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), which is aimed at improving the firefighting capacities of fire departments in every locality.

Ladra said the newly hired firemen completed the four-month training from the Fire National Training Institute. He said they have passed the requirement set by the Civil Service Commission.

The additional 40 firefighters will augment the city’s 61 active firemen, some of whom are actually women.

The firemen’s ratio against the city population now meets the requirement set by the BFP, according to the city’s fire department. The ratio is one fireman for 3,576 civilians.

At present, the city government is implementing the "one day duty, one day off" program, which means that for one day firemen belonging to Shift A will have to be on duty 24 hours, while those on Shift B will have their off. There is no holiday vacation for them.

Gonzales said he is optimistic that the number of fire incidents in the city would go down with the augmentation of the city’s fire department manpower.

He said there was a significant decrease in last year’s fire incidents, which showed a 22 percent decrease from the data in 2004. He attributed this to the city’s relentless fire prevention campaign.