The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fire

  • Millions gone as fire razes shops in Sokoto

    Millions gone as fire razes shops in Sokoto

    Four shops and property worth millions of naira were destroyed yesterday in an early fire near Sultan Atiku Secondary School in Sokoto. But nobody died in the incident.

    The cause of the fire, which started at 1 am, could not be ascertained immediately.

    Our reporter, who was on the scene, gathered that four vehicles under repairs were also burnt.

    Also burnt were various brands of vehicle batteries, gas cylinders, welding machines, auto painting equipment and electronics, among others.

    It took about 90 minutes of the combine efforts of firemen from the State Fire Service station, the police on patrol and neighbours to put out the fire.

    Speaking with our reporter, two of the affected shop owners, Jami’u Afolabi and Steven Onyeobia, described the incident as an act of God.

    “We were shocked, but there was nothing we could do. We leave everything to God. It is in His wisdom that we find ourselves in this state of loss and we have nothing to say but to thank Him,” they said.

  • Photo: Firemen putting off fire in Lagos

    Photo: Firemen putting off fire in Lagos

    Men of Lagos state fire service putting the buring truck at Ikeja along Agege motor road, Lagos on Sunday
    Men of Lagos state fire service putting the burning truck at Ikeja along Agege motor road, Lagos on Sunday
  • Fire razes engineering building

    Fire razes engineering building

    Valuable documents and property worth millions have been destroyed in an inferno that ravaged a building in the School of Engineering of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti (ADO POLY), last Friday.

    The bungalow, which was completely razed, housed the offices of the Dean, heads of Department of Mechanical, Civil, Electrical and Electronics and Agricultural Engineering, as well as a classroom. The fire, it was gathered, started at 11pm and its source has remained unknown.

    The inferno was noticed by residents of Abuja Hostel, which is close to the building. The students immediately alerted the authorities and rushed to the scene to remove documents and other valuables from the building.

    It took the combined efforts of Ekiti State Fire Service, the polytechnic’s fire fighters, school security officials and students to prevent the inferno from spreading to other facilities in the engineering school.

    Members of the polytechnic’s Governing Councils and top management staff were in a meeting when the incident happened.

    The Rector, Dr Theresa Akande, in a statement by the Deputy Registrar (Protocol and Information Unit), Mr Adeyemi Adejolu, said the institution’s loss could not be quantified, describing the incident as a monumental disaster.

    She said sensitive and irreplaceable documents and materials, including computers, furniture and structure were lost to the inferno. She noted that an emergency meeting of the Council was going on around 11:05 pm when some students raised alarm about the fire.

    She said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained because there was no electricity at the time of the incident, assuring that there would be investigation to unravel the cause.

    The Students’ Union Government (SUG) described the incident as unfortunate. In a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Temitope Yakubu, the union said: “We commiserate with the management and students over the fire disaster at the School of Engineering. Although, it was a sad incident but we are grateful to God that no life was lost. Our prayer is that, the incident should not affect the smooth running of the academic calendar. We commend the action of to residents of Abuja Hostel, who alerted the authorities.”

    Olusegun Adeolu, a student of Civil Engineering, said the incident was a great loss to the polytechnic.

     

  • Midnight fire razes UNILAG hostel

    Midnight fire razes UNILAG hostel

    Tragedy was averted at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Sunday, following a midnight fire that gutted Madam Tinubu Halls of Residence.

    Pandemonium broke in the hall as occupants raised alarm about the fire, which started from Room A012.

    There was stampede as students rushed out of the three-storey building, leaving many of them with broken limbs, wounds and bruises.

    The hall is one of the five hostels for female students on the campus.

    The fire whose source remained unclear at press time was said to have started at 3:15 am. Some students alleged that the inferno was caused by electric spark.

    The thick smoke billowing from burning rooms suffused the atmosphere as occupants rushed out of the building. The poor visibility made the frightened students to make a dangerous escape out of the hall.

    Some of them jumped down from the second and third floors, breaking their limbs on the concrete floor.

    An occupant, Eniola Oloruntola, a 400-Level Accounting student, said: “We were all sleeping when we heard shouts of fire at around 3:15am. The fire started at the A wing on the ground floor. Four rooms are affected.”Another resident, Chizoba Nwajei, a 300-Level English student, said: “I jumped out of the bed when I heard the shout of fire. All the hostel’s gates were locked and this made some students to jump down from the first floor. At least four rooms were burnt. I learnt a girl broke her legs. Many of us had to crawl under the gates to escape the raging fire.”

    The fire completely razed four rooms, leaving charred remains of laptops, electronic gadgets, and furniture. The affected rooms are A114, A214, and A314. The smoke spread to the “N” wing of the hall. Some asthmatic patients exposed to the smoke fainted and were held out by colleagues.

    When the hall porters contacted the UNILAG Fire Unit, it was learnt that the fire fighters responded that there was no water in their truck to put out the inferno. It took the combined efforts of the school security personnel, Man O’ War and male students from Fagunwa and Sodeinde halls to put out the fire. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that fire fighters from the Lagos State Fire Service arrived 30 minutes after inferno was put out.

    A victim identified as Bolanle, a 300-Level Insurance student and floor representative, was said to have jumped from the first floor. She was said to have rushed to Igbobi National Orthopaedic Hospital in Fadeyi area after she fractured her leg in the chaos.

    Another victim, Tope Opetumo, 300-Level Actuarial Science student, also jumped from the first floor and sustained injury to her leg.

    The hall chairperson, Julliet Ofodile, told CAMPUSLIFE that five students were on admission from injuries sustained.

    Confirming the incident, the Dean of Student’s Affairs, Prof Olukayode Amund, dismissed the claim that the fire was caused by electric spark, stressing that investigated was ongoing to unravel the cause of the inferno.

    He added students, who sustained minor wounds, had been discharged at the institution’s medical centre.

     

  • 15 die in Ibadan tanker fire

    15 die in Ibadan tanker fire

    •Man loses wife, three kids 

    •20 vehicles, 23 motorcycles, others destroyed

    It was all tears yesterday, as 15 people, including a family of three children and their mother, were burnt to death in a petrol tanker fire on Saturday night at Molete, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    The tanker was said to be coming from Challenge-Molete end of the road when the driver lost control.

    The vehicle then somersaulted and caught fire, spilling its fuel content, spread into a mechanic workshop, shopping mall and otherareas.

    A middle-aged man, who parked his vehicle to buy bread, lost the three children and his wife when the fire enveloped the family’s car.

    Over 20 vehicles, 23 motorcycles, many shops and goods worth several millions of naira were also destroyed.

    It took the intervention of the state fire-fighters to stem the spread of the fire into other thickly populated residential areas.

    Eyewitness said government and private ambulances conveyed some of the burnt victims to the University College Hospital (UCH) in the state capital, where they are receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) .

    “It is God’s protection that is most important. Many, who died, never dreamt of this. Imagine a man that travelled from Ijebu-Ode to this place and only to stop to buy what he would eat, it was then the fire came, claiming his three children and his wife.

    “It is a terrible incident. I was discussing with my friends, when we suddenly heard a deafening sound and people ran out of fear. But before five minutes, we saw fire covering everywhere. May God protect us from unforeseen occurrence,” an eyewitness, who gave his name as Ade, said yesterday.

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi visited the scene twice between Saturday night and yesterday morning to sympathise with those affected by the fire.

    Some policemen  prevented people from entering the area. A rope was tied to fence away intruders as policemen keep watch.

    But the governor commiserated with the families of those who were burnt to death.

    Ajimobi, who arrived at 8am, was visibly shaken by the gory sight. Accompanied by the Commissioner of Police Kola Sodipo, he was conducted round the scene of the inferno.

    He ordered that a crane be brought to take the carcass of the tanker, which had crossed the road from obstructing traffic.

    Ajimobi, who spoke with reporters, enjoined them “to take solace in the fact that death will come when it will.”

    He said that many who sought to take political advantage of his administration’s genuine love for the people, especially traders on the streets, must have seen the danger of politicising genuine government policies.

    “As I came here this morning, gentlemen of the press, you yourselves could hear statements from the crowd that gathered here. They keep shouting ‘And Ajimobi had warned us against street trading o!’ The problem we have is that politicians seek to profit from the lives of the people. Our administration has genuine love at heart for our people. This is manifesting itself gradually and our people themselves can see that love,” he said.

    The governor was told that the bulk of those who lost their lives were traders who refused to move to the nearby Scout Camp market, which had over a thousand stalls with modern conveniences built by the government and given to the traders free.

    “I sympathise with the dead and their families of the dead. This will show our love for the people in our desire to stop street trading. I learnt that a few days ago, another trailer veered off the road at Mobil area and hit the MTN building. If it had been before now when street traders gathered at the Mobil area, I imagine the number of casualties we would have been talking about,” he said.

    Government, he said, had seen through the hazards posed by street trading, stating that it was why his administration made it a kernel of its urban renewal exercise.

    “Apart from vehicles that skid off the road, killing our people, high tension wires also get cut and kill our people selling their wares by the road side. Our people should not listen to evil politicians who mislead them.

    “They should support us to fight the menace of street trading, by asking them to leave the road and we will not allow evil politicians to profit from this genuine love by misleading our people,” he said.

  • Fire in UNILAG

    Fire in UNILAG

    A fire outbreak has occurred in the Madam Tinubu hall of the University of Lagos.

    The fire was said to have started around 4am Sunday morning.

    No life was lost before the fire was put off .

    Details later,

  • How we put off Glass House fire

    How we put off Glass House fire

    Deputy Controller of the FCT fire service (operations), Opetunsin Julius has spoken of how they put out the Glass House fire.

    He said:“Wea got the call a few minutes past 10am and we got here as quickly as we could and thankfully we were able to put out the fire before it got worse.”

    He, however, posited that it might be too early to determine if it was arson or an accident.”

    “It is too early for us to say because we have to launch an investigation and then we can determine what the cause of the fire really was,” he said.

    The NFF have been in crisis lately, with Aminu Maigari only returning to office as president on Monday, with a faction led by Mike Umeh insisting that Maigari remains impeached.

  • Police investigate NFF fire

    Police investigate NFF fire

    The Nigeria Police Force(NPF) have begun investigation into the fire which gutted the office of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday morning.

    Assistant Police Commissioner Abubakar Baba made this known at the scene of the fire incident: “We have begun investigations into the fire that gutted the office of the NFF in Abuja in the morning (Wednesday).

    “We have not made any arrests but we hope to ascertain what caused this fire among other things.”

    The offices of the NFF general secretary as well as that of the chief accountant were gutted by fire. It took more than an hour before fire fighters could put out the inferno.

    “The fire started from the chief accountant’s office as I was told,” said NFF general secretary Musa Amadu.

    “I just arrived the office and saw the smoke and was not allowed to go upstairs obviously for safety reasons. Members of staff  would have been able to reduce the impact of the damage, but could not gain access into my office and as such could not quench or trace where the smoke was coming from.

    “But we must not engage in blame games and thank God that no life was lost. But this is sad and unfortunate.”

    NFF president Aminu Maigari and some of his officials visited the scene of the incident.

  • Fire razes NFF’s Abuja office

    Fire razes NFF’s Abuja office

    •AFCON, U-17 World Cup trophies rescued
    •Maigari, NFF Accountant rule out sabotage
    •No money was burnt, says Accountant-General

    The Glasshouse Secretariat of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday was gutted by fire. The fire, which started at about 9.30 am, started from the third floor office of the accountant.

    The inferno, which destroyed all the documents in the accountant’s office, extended to the office of the General Secretary, also destroying most of the documents in the office and all the offices on the left wing of the building.

    The General Secretary Musa Amadu, who was  on ground to salvage some of the documents in his office, said they were able to rescue most of the trophies that the  national teams most especially the African Nations Cup (AFCON) won by the Super Eagles last year in South Africa.

    He said: “It is an unfortunate incident.The fire started as early as 9.30am, and before the fire service men could come, the damage had been done. But we thank God no life was lost, we were able salvage the AFCON trophy that the Super Eagles won last year, the U-17 World Cup that we won in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year among others.

    “ I think the fire may have started from a power surge that happened at about that time. We tried as much as we could, but it is quite unfortunate.

    “As I have assured you, we are going to reassess those things that were burnt, and those missing. But we want to assure Nigerians that the jobs of the Federation workers would not be affected in any way, we would continue our normal duties until we get to the root of the whole thing. I once again assure all Nigerians that we would get over all these” he said.

    In his reaction on arrival at the Secretariat at about 11.45 am, NFF President Aminu Maigari gave thanks to God that no life was lost.  “We are grateful to God Almighty that no life was lost in the fire incident. We are optimistic that we would get over this incident, and I am sure  the security agencies would step in immediately to investigate what  happened. But, it is rather unfortunate. We are grateful to Almighty God that no life was lost”.

    On the immediate decision that the Board of the Federation would take, Musa said:“It is not a matter of immediate decision, it is for us to sit down as a Board and invite the security agencies to come and see things themselves and investigate it further for us to know the next step to take to see that the Federation’s activities return back to normal.

    “But, we as a board, we have to sit down and know the steps to be taken”.

    He insisted that the incident would not affect the Super Eagles as they prepare to take on their Congolese and South African counterparts in the  AFCON 2015 qualifier

    The Falconets are doing well, and they are poised to continue to do the country proud, the Super Eagles are beginning their AFCON trophy defense next month. We here are supporting them morally, financially and with prayers. We are optimistic that this would not affect them in any way”.

    Maigari appealed to  the board members to come together to salvage the ugly situation that is facing the Federation now, for the interest of the game and the country.

    Maigari  ruled out sabotage in the incident, saying it is purely an act of God. “I don’t want to blame anybody for  this. Let us take it as an act of God until the security agencies complete their job. I think that would facilitate our action”.

    Also, the NFF’s Accountant, Andelkin Christopher, ruled out any sabotage whatsoever, saying it is all a matter of co-incidence.

    “Look at it from this angle, the fire started from my office. I just resumed in the office only last three weeks. In the actual sense, no one has access to my office unless the cleaners and no one puts on any of the appliances until I come to the office. So, the incident would have to be properly investigated before we jump to conclusions”.

    The leader of the Fire Service Agency, Julius.O. Opetunsin, said  the cause of the inferno cannot be determined now, until  a full investigation has been carried out on the incident. “You cannot determine the cause of the fire now, until a full investigation has been completed.

    “This would be after sometime, because we cannot just jump to conclusions now. What I can tell you is that we were able to put off the fire which started at the left wing of the building. Due to our quick response, we were able to salvage a lot of things”.

    This, he said, was as a result of their quick response to the NFF’s distress call.

    “I got the call at exactly 9.58 am. I dispatched my men at Games village, Asokoro and another back up to the building. They got here at 10.15am, and before then, we had officials from the Federal fire service that were already on ground. It was a combined force between the FCT fire services and the federal fire services.”

    He said if the NFF needs any investigation, they would have to write to the FCT Minister who would order it. He did not fail to blame the deficiency in the building being responsible for the inability to salvage the situation before the arrival of the firemen.

    “It is quite unfortunate that in a building like this, there are no fire extinguishers and hose reels. If there were hose reels here, the staff would have been able to salvage the fire before our arrival. It is just for them to roll it out and combat the fire in whatever offices  affected,” he said.

    The representative of the Accountant General of the Federation, who is also a Deputy Director, claimed that nothing serious happened.

    His words: “We came to assess the situation here (NFF Secretariat) as we have been sent by the Accountant General of the Federation. I could see that nothing serious happened here. I was told that no life was lost and no money was lost too, so nothing happened.”

  • Elegbeleye, Gumba commiserate with NFF over fire incident

    Elegbeleye, Gumba commiserate with NFF over fire incident

    • Maigari: Our programmes will not be affected

    Director –General of the National Sports Commission,  Gbenga Elegbeleye and the Chairman of Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Adamu Gumba were among the first prominent Nigerians to commiserate with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over the fire outbreak in the Glass House on yesterday morning.

    They both spoke when a team led by NFF President,  Aminu Maigari called at their offices to inform them of the fire disaster. The NFF team also included members of the Executive Committee,   Emeka Inyama,  Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande,  Yusuf Ahmed Fresh and Ayodeji Tinubu, and the General Secretary,  Musa Amadu.

    Elegbeleye thanked God that no life was lost in the incident, which started with smoke spiraling out of one of the offices on the second floor before it became uncontrollable.

    “We commiserate with you over this disaster but we are grateful to God that no life was lost. Our hope and prayer is that this should not have any serious effect on the programmes of the NFF,” Elegbeleye said.

    Senator Gumba spoke in similar vein, even as he congratulated Maigari and his team for overcoming the recent crisis that threatened to tear Nigeria football apart.

    Responding, Maigari assured that he had personally assessed the impact of the fire outbreak and that the programmes of the NFF and Nigeria football will not be affected.

    “It is sad but we still have to be grateful to Almighty Allah. For one, no life was lost, and also, the impact is such that though a few offices including the General Secretary’s office were affected, this is not enough to affect any of our programmes.

    “All we need to do is to get the Falconets going in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and to prepare the Super Eagles for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, and the U-17 boys for their African U-17 Championship qualifiers.”