…RECORDS 216 FIRE INCIDENTS, SAVES 133 LIVES – ACG NJOKU, ZONE F COMMANDER
By Okosun Dennis
The Zonal Commander, Federal Fire Service, Zone F, South-West, (comprising Ogun and Lagos States), Assistant Controller General Chika Eugene Njoku has called on Lagosians to take precautions when handling fire especially during “Ember” months as this period witnesses greater fire incidences.
He disclosed that between January and October, 2023, the Zone attended to 216 fire incidents; while 12 were lives lost ; 133 lives were saved and 180 victims were rescued. In addition, during the period, properties worth N4,745,791,590:70 billion were destroyed while N23,057,580,723:95 properties were saved during the same period.
He made these disclosures in his office at Federal Fire Service, Lagos Command, Compos Street, Lagos Island, on Thursday while briefing the press on the zone’s preparedness to tackle emerging fire incidents during the Ember months which has become synonymous with increased fire occurrences.
While hinging increased incidences on human errors, carelessness, and lukewarm attitude of most residents, he explained that Ember months are associated with the dry season, haze harmattan weather, and dryness in addition to people storing petroleum products in their various homes preparatory for the festive period.
ACG Njoku observed that experiences have shown that plethora of fire incidences during this period necessitated the sensitization cum awareness campaign on the need for members of the public to manage fire, cooking gases, electrical appliances at their various homes and offices to avoid disasters of huge proportion.
According to him, “The essence of this briefing is to remind the public that we are in Ember months when we have a greater number of fire outbreaks. Since October, we have experienced six fire incidents and successfully brought them under control, adding that “we normally have a greater number of fire incidents this time.”
“This awareness is to prepare and arouse our consciousness to face this period squarely and block all the loopholes. This is to let you know our level of preparedness and give statistics of fire outbreaks received and attended to between January and October, 2023, within the zone.
However, “We cannot totally eradicate fire but can significantly minimize the number of outbreaks and the negative effects on those affected,” he averred.
Explaining further on their mandate, ACG Njoku noted that part of their core responsibilities is to save lives and properties through advocacy, education, training, and firefighting, stressing that to effectively tackle outbreaks, they have 12 stations in Lagos and they are poised to tackle fire and turn out when alerted.
Interestingly, in their desperate attempts to forestall cases of more fire disasters, ACG Njoku reiterated that they have spread their tentacles by creating robust awareness campaign which dovetailed into visits to private and public institutions, worship centres, schools and companies to educate them.
Particularly, on the increased number of fires during “Ember” months, he pointed out that “some companies take delight at engaging some workers to embark on overtime schedules after realizing they have not met their set target for the year, such workers deployed are stressed out of proportion as the resultant fatigue make some of them to sleep off or close without remembering to switch off the electrical appliances. This often results in a fire in case of a power surge or engines being overused.
On their preparedness in terms of equipment, ACG Njoku further disclosed that they have procured new trucks and backup tankers for reinforcement in places of water hydrants that are increasingly becoming unavailable; which has further thwarted their abilities to get water close to incidents areas hence they get water supplies from companies like Julius Barger and others.
To show their preparedness in case of any eventualities, ACG Njoku conducted journalists around some of those facilities and equipment procured recently.
Such equipment included Romeo Gulf (RG), and Motorbike Rapid Intervention to access areas like markets where their tenders cannot easily not get to or enter.
It was gathered that the intervention bikes are fitted with 25 litres each on both sides making 50 litres and the water mixed with chemicals to combat any kind of fire.
While responding to our correspondent question on the arbitrariness of some developers who cramped buildings together without ventilation and enough space to drive through in case of fire disaster, ACG Njoku disclosed that the Plan Examination Division in the zone is supposed to have the drawings of such Estate handed over to the department for vetting and ensure that all fire safety tips are considered or adhered to strictly.
“If the safety rules are not captured, the department advise them and where such doesn’t happen, we also go on enforcement.”
To mitigate disasters with huge implications, the Zonal Commander implored members of the public to reach out to them through their Control Room numbers on 08166215327 and 07034892281 or other social media platforms.
Conversely, while giving some safety tips, ACG Njoku reiterated that people should stop storing fuels in their homes whether there is scarcity or not; stop overloading electrical sockets, stop bush burning, dispose of charcoal used for cooking properly, and ensure that they do not leave their cooking gas unattended to in the kitchen.
Present at the briefing included senior officers of the Federal Fire Service, Lagos Command and the spokesperson, Superintendent John Nwabueze.
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