Fire incidents are on the rise in Lagos.
The State Fire Service attended to six cases on Saturday.
The Director of Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe warned Lagos residents to be more safety conscious as the dry season approaches.
“We attended to a fire call at 11 Ihuntayi Street, off Oba Oniru way in Lekki; there was also a fire outbreak which affected two buildings of eight rooms each at Muri Ojora Street, Amukoko, caused by fuel storage.
“Then, a confectionery factory at 5 /6 Peter Olu Ajayi Street, Agbado was gutted by fire, but our quick intervention saved the day; a restaurant at Ijaiye, Ogba also caught fire, thankfully, we were able to contain the fire there so that it does not spread into other shops and a bank beside it.
“There was also a call of a drunk driver who was involved in a lone accident at Ebute Ero. By the time we got there, policemen were already at the scene and the man identified as Kasumu claimed two of his passengers fell into the river.
“But a search was conducted and no one was found in the river. You can see that most of the cases were caused by carelessness. People have to be careful especially now that the dry season is near, ” Fadipe said.
Tag: Rasaq Fadipe
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Six fire incidents in Lagos on Saturday
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Fire razes 50 shops in Lagos
Fifty shops containing planks and other building materials were razed yesterday in Abule-Egba, Lagos State.
The Director, State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that two vehicles and cutting machines were also burnt.
There was no casualty.
Fadipe said the incident happened at Sawmill, U-Turn Bus Stop, Abule-Egba.
He said firemen put out the fire after battling with it for hours.
Fadipe told NAN that the cause of the fire was yet to be known.
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Fire at CBN Lagos office
•Security agents molest photojournalists
THERE was fire yesterday at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Lagos complex.
The dusk fire affected the administrative offices on the third floor. In the course of battling the fire, on the third floor, a fire service official collapsed, no thanks to suffocation.
According to National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) Southwest spokesman, Ibrahim Farinloye, the yet-to-be identified fireman was rescued and rushed to the hospital.
Farinloye said nobody died, adding that the Lagos State Fire Service personnel were on ground on time to contain the situation.
Lagos fire service Director, Rasaq Fadipe, said his men were clamping down the offices and breaking the windows and doors to check for any small fire that might not have been put off.
In a statement last night by Isaac Okorofor, the CBN said:”The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) wishes to inform its stakeholders and the general public that a fire incident occurred at its Lagos Branch Office at about 5:30 this evening (Tuesday, March 25, 2014).
“The fire, which occurred on the first floor of the building, has been put out by a combined team of fighters from the CBN and other institutions.
“We wish to assure our numerous stakeholders that the records of the Bank are intact, as the Bank has an effective backup of all its records, as part of our disaster recovery infrastructure”
Two photojournalists with the National Mirror Newspapers, Yinka Adeparusi and Samuel Adetimehin, were yesterday brutalised and had their cameras vandalised and confiscated by men of the Nigeria Police Force at the scene of the fire.
Both photojournalists were ordered to surrender their cameras were beaten.
Adeparusi was later whisked to the Area ‘A’ Police Station where he was detained before he was released later.
Adetimehin, who was the first to be attacked was left to writhe in pain after he had received punches from the policemen.
The two photographers have been placed under medical care.
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Lagos Fire Service kicks over non-payment of 0.25% revenue
• Insurers fault law
The Lagos State Fire Service has accused underwriters of not paying the mandatory 0.25 per cent revenue to the Nigeria Fire Service by way of Fire Service Maintenance Fund (FSMF) as required by the Insurance Act.
The state’s Fire Service Director, Rasaq Fadipe, who spoke at the just concluded member’s evening of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers in Lagos, said the money which is meant to be paid quarterly by insurers, is meant to motivate firemen to be effective in firefighting.
Section 65 (4) specifies that 0.25 per cent of the premium collected is to be paid into a Fire Services Maintenance Fund to be administered and disbursed by NAICOM for the purpose of providing grants or procurement of equipment to institutions engaged in firefighting services in the country.
This section emanated from Section 64, which makes mandatory the insurance of buildings under construction where more than two floors are envisaged. The insurance must cover the liability of the owner of the building in respect of the negligence of his servants, agents or consultant.
It is also followed by Section 65 which makes the insurance of public building mandatory. Public buildings are defined in Section 65(2) of the Act.
Fadipe urge insurers to comply with the law adding that their members need to be encouraged.
Managing Director, Niger Insurance Plc, Mr. Kola Adedeji who delivered a paper on public buildings, said insurers have too many commission and levies to pay to different organisations and this has been affecting their businesses.
Adedeji stressed that while the fire service business is not something that should be toiled with, insurance business has to be profitable for them to be able to pay.
He said: “Insurance business profits on law of large number. But with the way the business is now, if we pay .25 per cent to fire service, one per cent to our regulator, NAICOM, and 15 per cent to intermediaries like brokers, loss adjusters among others, then the premium we generate from the insuring public will be finished”.
A broker and member of the NCRIB, Barrister Rotimi Edu added that the law on how to remit the .25 per cent due to the fire service is very big because it did not specifically state if the fund is for the fire service.
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Another inferno kills two in Lagos
Two persons including a one- year old baby and its 45-year old father, Mathew, were Friday morning, consumed by an inferno at Ebute Meta, Lagos.
This incident, which occurred at 4, Nubi Close off Park road, along Apapa Road, Ebute Metta West, was the 20th, the fire services have attended to in one week.
It reportedly started in the wee hours of Friday.
It was learnt that the inferno which razed two flats in a two-storey building, was caused by a lit candle because there was no electricity supply at the time the fire started.
The wife and mother of the deceased persons was said to have been rescued through community efforts, but the neighbours could not rescue the two victims because the fire had escalated.
When contacted, Director State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, confirmed the incident.
He told The Nation that the service was not contacted early but still got there early enough to stop the fire from affecting other flats.
“Yes, we recovered two bodies, a year old baby and a man of about 45 years. We were told their mother\wife was rescued by people in the area who first gathered to put out the fire.
“They did not call us early. If they had called us immediately while still continuing with their efforts, we may have been able to safe those lives.
“The Fire involved the upper floor of a residential two- storey building, consisting of two flats of three bedroom each built on a land of about 60 by 120ft.
“The affected two flats at the upper floor were severely damaged by fire.
“A male adult of about 45 years and a child of about a year old were recovered dead from the inferno,” said Fadipe.
Similarly, fire service personnel at Agege responded to an emergency call at 11, Akinleye Street, Oko Oba, where a man of about 35 years was recovered dead from a well.
The deceased Lawal Ganbo, was said to have been working in the domestic well
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Alarm over rising fires
The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, has raised the alarm over the spate of fire outbreaks across the state.
He said the service recorded 153 cases across the state from January till date and urged residents to be cautious of using electrical appliances.
Fadipe said: “Though we recorded 119 fire cases in January this year, against the 283 cases recorded last year, this year’s figure is alarming because we did not witness the kind of dry season witnessed last year,” Fadipe said.
Fadipe, who said the data for February has not been compiled, confirmed that no fewer than 34 fire outbreaks have been attended to since February 1.
“On February 3, we responded to nine emergency calls including a building at Femi Okunnu Estate, Lekki, where a trapped 10-year-old boy was rescued.
“Similarly, on February 4, we attended to five fire emergency calls including one at 283, Abeokuta Expressway, Pleasure Bus Stop, Iyana Ipaja, which claimed the life of an eight-month-old baby, Nifemi.
“On Thursday, February 6, we responded to four calls out of which fire razed two rooms in a male hostel at the Yaba College of Technology. Our prompt response prevented the spread of fire to other rooms and floors of the four-storey building complex. Among many others, another serious fire outbreak was recorded on Williams Street, Ifako Gbagada, on Monday which two fire trucks attended to. The Gbagada incident was the ninth within 24 hours. We had earlier attended to a case of an adult male of about 75 years, who fell into a well. He was recovered dead,” he said.
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Fire guts Coscharis warehouse
An early morning fire on Thursday gutted a warehouse belonging to the Coscharis Group in Apapa, Lagos, destroying petroleum products and other goods worth millions of Naira.
The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, who confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said that the fire started at about 5am and raged for hours.
Fadipe said the intervention of the fire service personnel prevented the fire from affecting nearby structures.
“We got a call about the fire at about 5am and moved into action. It was a serious fire because the goods stored in the warehouse were mainly lubricants and other petroleum products.
“We deployed men and equipment, including our specialised foam chemical truck, and with the support of volunteers around, we were able to put the situation under control, “ he said.
Fadipe, who could not ascertain the cause of the fire, told NAN that it had yet to be totally extinguished as at Thursday afternoon.