When next you see Lagos State fire fighters, your imagination may likely take a flight. Gone, perhaps forever, are the navy blue jacket overall for which they have been known while on duty. What residents of Lagos would be seeing are men of the Fire Service adorning professional apparels – a black fire-proof jacket and pair of trousers with yellow stripes, hand gloves, yellow fire boots and helmets.
The new apparels are an integral part of a bouquet of modern fire fighting equipment and protective gears procured by the state government to strengthen their capacity to safeguard their lives while combating fire, and improve their capacity to protect the property of residents.
Unveiling the tools and kits at an impressive ceremony attended by members of the state executive council, members of the body of permanent secretaries, traditional rulers, chiefs of related agencies, experts in fire and security matters, residents and representatives of non-governmental organisations, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola said: “Retooling the Fire Service is, in part, a fulfilment of the responsibility of the government to protect lives and property of her residents.”
He said with the equipment, it becomes easier for the fire men to combat fire and save more lives than they hitherto do without necessarily endangering their lives.
Fashola said the government would not only continue to improve the standard of the existing 15 fire stations, but will also open new ones, and ensure that many more areas are covered to reduce the stress of residents and improve on the response capacity to fire emergencies.
He said already a total of 570 young men and women, 10 from each of the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas have been trained to respond to emergencies. They will work in concert with the State Emergency Management Agency in the case of emergencies in any of the council areas.
Praying that government would have no frequent need for the vehicles, Governor Fashola, who acknowledged that accidents must happen no matter how careful people are, appealed to residents that when such occasions arise, they should not only grant access to the fire men or other first emergency service personnel but should also stay away from the scene of the crisis.
He said: “We will continue to appeal that whenever this happens, and we pray it will not be frequent, you must help them. You must assist them to get to the point of crisis. These are highly trained, well-equipped fire fighting personnel. But if we block the access to where the fire incident is, it would obstruct their job.”
This could be achieved by citizens not crowding at the scene of fire and by maintaining and protecting street signs in their localities to direct first emergency responders to the point of crisis.
Fashola, who also listed other superstructures already in place to include street signs and the emergency lines: 112 and 767, said government made the lines toll-free to open access for people to call responders’ attention to scene of emergencies whether or not they have air time on their phones.
“Your ability to give correct direction and clear the road of all encumbrances may make the whole difference. It may be the key to the golden hour when timely help may make the difference in the lives of anyone in distress,” he said.
He said the reason he has refused to grant approval for multi-storey buildings was the absence of capacity to cope with emergencies associated with such, adding that with the acquisition of the equipment, such delays may be a thing of the past.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Mr. Mohammed Oyinlomo Danmole said the equipment, which were built to the state’s specification, were ordered to address challenges of combating fire outbreaks in the state.
The state, he said, set out to match the speed of megacity development and its attendant risks with motivated fire service personnel who are equipped with state-of-the-art fire-fighting equipment customised for our terrain.
He said the state got a tested and trusted manufacturer with long standing history, Messrs W.S Darley of Itasca Illinois, a firm that has been in business since 1908, as fire fighting/equipment
manufacturer for United States military and over 100 countries.
Part of the government’s agreement with the firm included a full package purchase of these purpose-built fire fighting trucks, maintenance of all equipment and a comprehensive training of its firemen.
He said: “We have taken delivery of 34 items namely 15 Dragon Pumper, which has been renamed Rapid Eagle: a Fire Tanker built on current model Ford F650 chassis, with built-in capacity for 3,400 litres of water, poly-water tank and 100 litres of foam tank, integral with water tank; 15 Snow Dragon, also renamed The Fire Eagle: a Fire Tanker built on current Spartan chassis with built-in capacity for 4,500 litres of water, poly-water tank and 100 litres of foam tank, integral with water tank.
“Others are two Aerial Telescopic Turn-table Ladder, built on current Spartan chassis mounted with extruded aluminium Aerial body and turn-table ladder with a capacity for 1,350 litres of poly-water tank and 450 litres capacity foam tank, integral with water tank and two mobile maintenance vehicles fitted with welding tools and gadgets to resuscitate any damaged trucks within 24 hours.”
He said all the fire trucks are fitted with storage tanks for water, foam and compressed air.
“The new fire trucks will make use of the latest auto Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) designed to reduce the volume of water needed to fight fire,” he said.
Some of the benefits of this latest system, he said, are the ability to reduce property damage by putting the fire out faster, ability to reduce water and smoke damage through the use of blanket of foam over smouldering materials which helps reduce smoke emissions and ability to improve fire fighters’ safety as it keeps them away from the flames and heat due to the discharge distance caused by the air-powered propulsion.
The lighter hose lines, Danmole added also creates less fatigue for fire fighters during operations.
In addition to the hardware, government also procured personal protective clothing which comprises 500 fire-proof suit, 500 safety helmets, 500 safety boots and 500 hand gloves.
Also included as part of the training, Danmole stated, is a pilot programme on contemporary fire service operation, using one of the existing fire stations as a model and replicating it in other stations across the state.
The state has also embarked on the rehabilitation and upgrading of 225 old fire hydrants in the Lagos metropolis and the installation of 50 new ones to link the mini/micro-water works.
Danmole said aside from the 15 state-owned stations, there are nine Federal Government-owned stations that are not functioning as they ought to, adding that efforts by the state government to take over the stations have not been successful.
“For instance, places such as Surulere, Oyingbo and Lagos Island where federal fire stations are located need functional fire stations, but these are not available. Therefore, as a reliable government, Lagos cannot allow its citizens to be subjected to such dangerous
situation.”
He said the project that gulped 16 million Dollars was funded by the American Exim Bank, with the state government paying 15 per cent of the transaction.
He said the manufacturer; W.S Darley began the project in 2011, while Messrs Targee Fire, the consultant trainers, has already began training of its local personnel on how to handle the equipment.
Danmole added that, the purchase of the equipment was not done on shelf, but customised to meet the needs of the terrain of the state.
“To ensure that we get maximum advantage of the equipment, we gave out contract not only for the supply of the equipment, but also for the maintenance and training of our personnel and so far, 150 of our men have benefitted in the first batch of the training,” he said.
The Fire Eagle is fitted with aerial ladder with the rotation capacity of 360 degrees and an illumination lamp designed to provide light for easy movement of the vehicle and the personnel in the course of duty, especially where electricity may have been disrupted.
“The ladder can get up to between 18th to 20th floor storey buildings, with 360 degrees rotational ability,” Danmole said.
He said while each of the Fire Eagles has the capacity to accommodate 3,000 litres of water and foam, the Rapid Eagle have capacity for 2, 000 litres of water and foam each.
The Chief Operating Officer of W.S Darley, Mr David Darley praised the Lagos State Government for its determination to equip its fire service adequately.
He said the firm will continue to collaborate with the government in maximising the potential of the equipment, even as he assured of adequate servicing and training of personnel to ensure effective deployment of the machines.
Darley said Lagos State is the first government in Africa to have patronised the firm, adding that the equipment his firm supplied could rank as one of the best in the world.
The Chief Officer, Targee Fire, Mr. Edward Dorley Wright, who led the training team, explained that the equipment were fitted with modern tools and computers that are capable of making the task of fire fighting more effective.
Wright maintained that the training would last for one year, while the life span of the equipment may last for more than 10 years if there is proper servicing.
He said: “Our aim is to help Lagos State with expertise and training. There is nothing like the equipment in the entire Africa. They are modern both in technology and operation and we are determined to help the government to keep them in top shape for a very long time to come.”
The Director of the Fire Service, Mr Rasak Fadipe praised the government for the investment in the department.
He said the investment was morale booster for his men. He assured the government that officers and men of the service would continue to make the state proud.
The Lagos State Fire Service became fully operational on August 31, 1972 with a three-man crew of fire fighters headed by an expatriate Chief Fire Officer named Sir Allan Flemming.
Currently, the state’s Fire Service personnel strength stands at over 150. The service operates 13 Fire Stations, with two newly completed ones ready to be inaugurated.
