philippines 2023

In the Philippines, the high density of the population living in close quarters makes it easy for small fires to spread quickly and endanger entire communities. In response, communities form volunteer fire departments to support the municipal firefighters protecting the lives and property of their neighborhood. Although they have motivated and skilled volunteers, many of these fire departments lack the funding to purchase essential PPE, and fire suppression and rescue equipment.

GlobalFire sent a shipment of firefighting equipment to the Philippines including SCBA, bunker suits, helmets, hose, thermal imaging cameras, rope rescue equipment, first aid supplies and much more. In early 2023, the equipment was distributed to six fire departments in Manila, Aroroy, Labazpi and Tacloban. This included a fire department in Tacloban that GlobalFire had worked with in 2014 following the massive Typhoon Hagupit. It also also included the Trinity Volunteer Fire Dept Inc. who has worked closely with GlobalFire's sister charity, GlobalMedic, on several disaster responses such as the eruption of the Taal Volcano in 2020 and Tropical Storm Megi in 2022.

This donation of gear was received with much gratitude and put into service immediately. The gear is improving the capacity of firefighters in the Philippines to do their job safely while serving their community.

Accompanying the donation of fire & rescue equipment was GlobalMedic’s donation of Family Emergency Kits containing household water purification units, hygiene items and solar lights. These were provided to local response teams to support families displaced by disasters.