Makati City, Philippines

[slang]

I went to the new fire station / police station today to get some interviews and photos.

The PNP officers invited me to go with them on patrol which I did go with them.

I also talked with the dep Fire Chief of the Makati Central Fire Station in downtown Makati.

There are some cool photos and clips from today but I'm exhausted from doing next to nothing and I'm going directly to sleep now.

Pics and clips coming tomorrow.

[slang]

There are both photos and movie clips in this set and the clips are still uploading to YouTube and I have to make this as quick as reasonably possible to get some other things done.

Here are the photos first.

I had intended to get a better shot of the outside of the new building but I'd taken so many by that time that I just wanted to move on.

The first is the outside of the foyer of the new Fire and Police (PNP) stations.

The second shows the aging truck that they have to work with. The firefighters tell me that it's a 1979 model.

[slang]

My first stop was to the new firehouse. I'd come to visit in the old building and knew that at least some of the firefighters would remember me from the summer.

Genalyn C Tan is the ranking officer at the firehouse and she was nice enough to give me a quick tour of the new station. Thanks also for allowing all the pics.

Here are a few shots of the inside. First is the general quarters. No AC here but it appeared comfortable.

Then the meeting room. Very nice table and chairs for the Philippines.

[slang]

This is the commander's office. An office with a view ( ) a powerful AC unit and comfortable seating.

I appreciate comfortable seating no matter where I'm at in the world.

Simple, neat and new.

[slang]

This is the view from the commander's office. A nice view of the truck.

This station is a sub-station which means that it's much less busy than the main station. The reality is that most of the younger FFers are at the main station and this is generally for FFers that are...approaching retirement.

Certainly not a country club here but much less action than many of the surrounding stations.

The central station in downtown Makati dispatch staff from this station to assist with fires in close proximity to the sub station.

Does that mean that the sub station FFers take a tricycle to the fire and use the equipment and the trucks from the central station?

I never got an answer to that with all that was going on.

[slang]

Here are some pictures of the recent opening of the sub station and the services that they provide, training and the like.

The next pic is of the org chart here.

[slang]

Thanks to all the staff at the Comembo sub station.

Now on to the PNP station. I've not known any of the cops here so when I walked in with my camera the police there were a little curious about me.

This police station is pretty quiet so I started asking some questions before taking a lot of photos. Let them get used to me before I go full out with the pictures.

There were a few officers there and I asked them questions about the area and their experience in the PNP. Simple questions turned into more interesting complex conversations and before I knew it I had been there over an hour shooting the breeze.

I took these pics of the holding tank just to give an idea of what the facility is like. Everything is new but this is the temp holding tank and there's not even a chair to sit on.

Luckily for the prisoner, there is an unclaimed motorbike there but it's not looking too comfy to sit on.