Coming at the heels of the various volunteer fire brigades sprouting all over Metro Manila in the late 70's, the Tacloban Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade was one of the earliest volunteer fire brigade to be set up in the province of Leyte, that was about 1981.

      The Tacloban Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, then headed by the late Mr. Roberto Uykim, a civic minded person was the brain behind in organizing the said fire brigade. He exerted much effort and foresaw the fire briagdes financial viability might become a problem in the long run, so he passed a board resolution authorizing the chamber to manage and maintain the said fire brigade. The ground floor of the chamber building located at J. Romualdez St. became the fire station.

      The first batch of volunteers compose mostly of alumni from the Leyte Progressive High School. Their High School days adventure, brotherhood, commanderie, and volunteerism now transcend into public service.

      Unfortunately, several years later, intramurals and squabble within the chamber of commerce, headed by Mr. Ben Ong leave the fire brigade in shambles. The Tacloban Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, INC. split into two faction. The volunteer fire brigade under its' care was totally abandom.

      By the year 1992, a small group of former volunteer fire brigade members decided to revived the said fire brigade, declaring independent from the Chamber. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce under Mr. Henry Yaokasin, extended neither help nor sympathy. The local Filipino-Chinese Community was so responsive that with there financial support, the said fire brigade organization was completely rehabilitated within the same year.

      On 1993, some former volunteer fire brigade members decided to registered it with the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) on July 7, 1993, with S.E.C. registration no. AN083-003033. It was on that same year that the said fire brigade shift from federation to the Association of Philippine Volunteers Fire Brigade wing. Everything that's happening can be described in one word:REINCARNATION.

      The fire brigade successful recovery triggered much embarrassement to the Chamber that a sham election was called. Sensing that the said election was rigged many Chamber members boycotted. The former power grabber took the opportunity and elected himself back to presidency of the Chamber. The new president of the Chamber declared that the volunnteer's independence as rebellious and decided to shut all its' facilities to the volunteers. He created his own brigade and challenge the former members to produce their own fire brigade. The ouster of volunteers who took care of the neglected fire station ganered so much sympathy from the Chinese community leaders and philantrophists that they decided it's time to teach the Chamber president a lesson.

      First, the fire brigade organization was restructured where popular figures in the community form a 21-member Board of Directors, and let the volunteers concentrate on the fire services duty. Elected Chairman in 1994 up to the present was Mr. Jose Yu Penero, Sr. with Mr. Agustin Uykim as CEO. The Board manages all the financial, governmental, and social matters pertaining to the brigade fire fighting have never been cheap, but nobody mind chipping in for a good cause.

      The Board worked for the donation of our first fire truck donated by the Cebu Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade on 30 December, 1994. And in 1995, a tanker was donated by the Association of Philippine Volunteer Fire Brigade, plus a pumper from the South San Nicholas Fire Volunteer Fire Brigade. The trucks were aptly christened as the 'CHALLENGER' -- meaning we took up Mr. Henry Yaokasin's challenge, then 'TERMINATOR' -- to end all our feud with him. 'RAIN FOREST' -- was our pumper as water supplier to our trucks in fire scene.

      From 1994-1998, Mr. Agustin Uykim leased out his lot at Sto. Nino St. to temporarily house the fire trucks for free, and tap it also with free electricity and water.

      In recognition of the invaluable services to the community, the Provincial Government signed a Memorandum of Agreement thru the help of Gov. Remedios Petilla on December of 1997 to lease the fire brigade a 500 sq. meter lot at Plaza Libertad on Jones St., to become our Volunteer Fire Brigade Base for the next 25 years.

      Our Chairman and nearly 80 years old, Mr. Jose Yu Pinero with some Board Members, thru sheer determination, hard work and good leadership, made rounds soliciting funds from the community and off shores, for the construction of a fire station. And with the sincere cooperations of Filipino-Chinese Business Community, it was a dream come true. Started in April and finished in June 1998, a greyish building now stands out in the park, becomes an icon symbolizes the ethnic chinese commitment and public service to the community we live in.

      Volunteers also trained in radio communications, truck maintenance, roving, fire drills, disaster relief, and other social work. A Lion Dance Team was formed as fund raiser during Chinese New Year, store openings and happy occassions/celebrations. Enough money can be generated to finance the maintenance of fire trucks and equipments. This proves that charity work has its' own fun side.