The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Adesina Tiamiyu, in this interview with Precious Igbonwelundu, he talks about the June 28, 2018, tanker explosion in Lagos. He talks about how the agency was able to contain the damage and loss of lives. Excerpts…
WHAT would you say was responsible for fire inferno that engulfed the fuel tanker?
Going by video footages that emerged after the incident, I will say the carelessness of the driver and his motor boy caused that avoidable disaster. We have seen footages recorded by the dashboard camera of another motorist, which showed when the truck was rolling backward and the conductor was trying to wedge it with wood. That was what made it to tilt and fall.
If the driver had been more careful, either by not overloading the truck or by ensuring it was strong enough to climb the bridge, we would not have had this. We also saw another video of another truck going on a particular road in Lagos with its content spilling and a man was hanging at the back using a piece of cloth to block it. That is terrible. What if there was an explosion?
You see, 75 percent of incidences that we attend to are purely man-made because our people do not want to listen to safety instructions. They want to cut corners.
How prompt was emergency response?
We responded swiftly and that was why we were able to stop the fire from escalating. Incidentally, I was still in the office when the explosion occurred and my office is about five minutes to the location. We immediately assembled all stakeholders and deployed fire trucks from Alausa Fire Service Station. The trucks got to the location within seven minutes.
We also have two fire trucks that were coming from Oshodi but they got there a little late because of the traffic that had built up on that road. Fire trucks from Agege and others were able to come in through Berger, facing Mowe. So, we attacked from two fronts- while some operatives combated it from Berger end of the road, others faced the Magodo end. As we were busy doing this, we were also concerned about the safety of our men as a result of mammoth crowd of onlookers, who had converged on the scene and were videoing or taking pictures.
Controlling the crowd was a bit difficult for us. We had to split ourselves in groups- some were tackling the fire, while others were wading off the crowd before the first set of policemen arrived and were able to push the crowd back. By the time we finished putting out the fire, bodies of victims, who were burnt to death were on the floor; carcasses of burnt 54 vehicles of various types including the tanker that created this problem was also there.
A lot of Lagosians and indeed Nigerians have commended emergency workers for not just ensuring the fire did not escalate thereby wreaking unimaginable havoc but also, clearing the road and easing the traffic snarl that extended up to Victoria Island before dawn. How did you achieve this record feat?
Our first thought was to quickly erase the memory of the sad incident from the people to ease their pain, take their minds off the disaster. We also wanted to quickly restore public order and decongest the roads as soon as possible to avoid a lock down of the entire city and by extension, prevent secondary accident. Even our vehicles that were coming to help were held in that traffic, so it was important for us to free the road as quickly as possible.
To achieve this, we deployed the few heavy duty equipment that were at the scene to push the affected vehicles off the road as soon as the fire was put out, clean up the debris and wet the floor to ensure safety of pedestrians and vehicles. We finished that phase around 12am and opened the road for two hours to ease the bedlam that had extended to Victoria Island and also allow our men and equipment trapped to come in. As the vehicles were moving, we were planning what to do with the carcasses and we resolved to move them to the Olusosun Dumpsite, since police would conduct investigation and insurance companies too might have something to do with the vehicles.
After two hours, we closed the road again and deployed two forklifts- one at the scene and the other at the dumpsite. While the one at the scene was loading the vehicles into three low-bed trailers and two Hiabs, the one at the dumpsite was offloading them to allow for quick return of the vehicles. While each of the low-bed trucks carried six of the burnt vehicles at once, the Hiabs took two each.
So, on each trip, we moved 22 vehicles. We did this because of the traffic that made the turnaround time slow. Since the CMD Road was the only one we opened for motorists, we did not want to go through it to Olusosun because some of the vehicles were tilting and we wouldn’t want to have another crisis on our hands.
Hence, the vehicles had to travel through Berger, make a U-turn and then proceed to the dumpsite. While they were on that journey, we opened the road for vehicles to pass so that they would not be trapped in the traffic for too long on their return. We repeated this practice three times before all the vehicles were moved. The next phase was proper cleaning of the entire area to rid it of burnt carcasses, panels and any object that could be an impediment to vehicular movement. Fire service also used water to wash the entire area and the sweeping team came in to do their job.
Ours is a society where civil servants have lackadaisical attitude to work. How then do you motivate your men to get their commitment to duty?
I disagree with you that civil servants are lazy or lackadaisical. At least, not in Lagos because here, we have a public service that is driven by commitment to duty and excellence. Having said that, I will say that my men have passion for their job. Ours is a job that involves saving lives and properties. You have to have passion for it and be prepared to work extra hours or at odd times to succeed.
But I must tell you that the result we achieved in handling that disaster was as a result of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s visionary and human friendly leadership. The State has state of the art equipment to lessen the burden of our work. If not, how many of these can we do with our bare hands? So, we have equipment that could lift, cut and also load or offload, and then the capacity to do this is shown.
The governor was there with us that night and he wanted to come again later but we advised him not to because we had shut down the road and it will be difficult for him to access the scene. So, we were sending pictures to him.
When you have a leader like that and you have workers who are passionate about what they do; with a little remuneration in terms of allowances for the kind of dangerous work they are doing, you will certainly achieve results.
For instance, three of the staff just came back from China, where they attended training; these are the motivation we are talking about. Some of them will also be going to the US very soon and Germany later in the year. All of these are part of the trainings to ensure we do this work better than it used to be.
Then, you cannot rule out the synergy between relevant stakeholders. The result we achieved at the Otedola Bridge explosion was not done by LASEMA alone. We have such agencies as the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos Fire Service, Lagos State Ambulance Services (LASAMBUS), State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who played huge roles. So, it was team work.
How do we ensure these disasters from articulated vehicles are contained?
Lagos State Government is doing something already. We must ensure that vehicles are in good condition before putting them on the road. There must be stakeholders meeting, where everybody that is involved in the transport sector, especially the unions are present. They must come together and agree on best practices. The current situation where tanker drivers think they are rendering special duties and do not want to comply with safety standards cannot be tolerated.
We cannot say because they are moving essential products, they should now risk the lives of Nigerians. Look at the tanker that caused pains and losses. What essential duty did it fulfil?
What is LASEMA doing to prevent emergencies in the state?
Emergencies will always happen but we only thrive to ensure that the extent of damages to lives and properties are reduced to the barest minimum. That is what we have been doing. We have had disasters of grave magnitude that could have resulted in the deaths of scores of people like that of Otedola Bridge but we were able to manage them and reduce the death toll to the barest minimum.
For instance, between January and June, we recorded a total of 1,696 incidents involving 1,485 people in which 133 people died. There were 280 fire cases, which involved 68 people 13 of whom died. We had 575 road accidents, involving 972 people in which 72 died.
We also recorded five incidents of people trapped/ falling in wells, 64 cases of tanker or trailer accidents and 12 bunkering related issues.
Others are 31 collapsed/partially collapsed buildings, 88 fallen containers, 40 burnt vehicles, 12 suicides, a domestic accident seven oil spillage and 38 fake calls.
Also, we engage in periodic education and enlightenment campaigns across the state to register in the consciousness of our people the need to be safety conscious and actions to take during emergencies.
Asides that, we usually send our vehicles and bikes on the streets for monitoring as preventive measures. So, whenever our men see that some vehicles are not complying with traffic or safety rules, they notify the police ahead of time so that action is taken.
A few weeks ago, two of our bikers were knocked down by a hit and run driver on the Third Mainland Bridge. They are still in the hospital.
While on patrol, they saw a private motorcyclist and its passenger hit by a vehicle. One of them was dead and the other was injured. They parked their motorcycles at a strategic location and their amber lights were on so that they could offer help to the victims.
Yet, an oncoming vehicle cleared both the injured victims and the riders offering help. We usually face the problem of drunk drivers during the weekends.
Our bikers managed to call for help and then we had to go there to take both the dead, the rider of the first bike and two of our riders. At the moment, the two bikes are out of the system. These are some of the things we face in the line of duty.
Hence, it is in our own interest to see that things work well because it will make government’s efforts show and Lagosians will be happier.
Recently, it was reported that a woman jumped into the lagoon on Third Mainland Bridge. The police have denied the incident occurred because her remains have not been seen despite various searches. What is the true position on this incident?
Well, we are working together with the Nigeria Police, who are also part of the first responders. Indeed, we were told someone jumped into the lagoon. We have two Nigerians, who said they witnessed what happened. Unfortunately, this is the first time this is happening that someone will jump into the lagoon and we cannot find the body.
Some people have said because the wave flowed towards the Island from Iyana Oworo at the particular time it happened; that the body might have been swept under those saw millers’ logs.
However, we have spoken to them (sawmill owners) in case anybody notices anything. LASEMA, the Marine Police, local divers and fishermen have all been alerted and we have carried out several searches but as I speak to you, we have not made any headway. It is mysterious to us but we will not lose hope. We will continue to search until it is safe to say we have tried all we could. That is why we still carryout occasional patrols and contact locals in case they see a floating body. We will notify the public once we hear or see anything.
Your job is a very demanding one and with the population of Lagos, I doubt there’s a day you do not attend to emergency issues. How do you relax sir?
Relaxation for me is also in the office while working. I do not have that luxury of time to go to club and all that because we cannot leave Lagosians to suffer while we enjoy. As a family man, I have time for my children and family. I take them out when opportunity presents itself.
I also make my office a relaxation spot because my job is 24 hours. So, I have my television set to watch football or anything I want to watch while waiting for the next assignment. Since I am passionate about saving lives and helping humanity, I do the job with ease.
At what point did you develop passion for saving lives?
My passion for this job began from childhood. My dad was a fireman and he rose to the position of Director, Oyo State Fire Service before he retired. My dad used to take us to his office and I fell in love with his work. You will agree with me that a child who loves his father will love what he does. I used to admire their yearly celebration where they put on their uniforms and simulate how to combat fire outbreaks. I have always had the passion to fight for and help others. I demonstrated that as an undergraduate in the university and even when I was working at the National Theatre. My passion to save lives did not start today.
Prior to becoming the General Manager, I worked with a company that is involved in safety and emergency services. I have been involved in managing emergencies in Lagos. So, for me, it was easy to come in and blend with everybody. I knew most of those working with me in the course of my initial work with them.
