A total of 1,898 fire incidents were recorded in Lagos State between January and December 2015 with December recording the highest number of incidents at 260. The period under review also recorded the death of 80 residents, according to the Director of the State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe.
Meanwhile, Galaxy Television, a major television station in the state, has been razed by fire with equipment worth millions of naira destroyed. Fadipe, who spoke when he visited the television station in the state, said the number of fire incidents in the state was alarming.The figure for this year exceeds that of last year with 200 incidents.
Fadipe noted that the figure got so high because of the careless attitudes of residents of the state.Last Monday alone, the state recorded up to 16 fire disasters while last Sunday, the state recorded 12 cases.
“Whenever a fire occurs, residents do not call for help immediately. Rather, they fight the fire alone. It is until it has escalated that they call the emergency lines for help.
“For instance, at 23, Ogundola Street, Ladylak Bariga, 10 rooms were razed. The fire started from a candle lit by one of the occupants. “The person left the candle unattended to. It fell on the furniture in the room and caught fire. “Rather than call for assistance, the occupants were fighting the fire and due to the weather, it escalated,” he said.
The inferno that gutted Galaxy Television began at about 5:30am according to Fadipe, who said it was the result of an electric spark from the amour cable connecting the studio to the station’s mast.
The state Fire Service received the distress call at 5:59am and Fadipe said the service first disconnected the electricity to make it easy to put out the fire.
Fadipe advised against storing petrol at home adding: “parents should caution their children and whoever wants to cook especially in the Yuletide season should stay closer to whatever he is cooking.”
