Aided by the onset of the dry harmattan weather, which is providing a thriving atmosphere, a wave of tragic fire incidents has been sweeping through Lagos State lately. In its wake, several houses, shops at the Balogun Market in Nigeria’s commercial capital and cars have been destroyed. Six people have also died in the outbreaks that have covered virtually all parts of the state. In concert with its agencies, the government must move urgently to contain the upsurge.
The most striking incidents have been at the Oko-Baba Sawmill in Ebute-Meta and the Balogun Market on Lagos Island. Five contiguous houses in Igando were also razed to the ground between January 12 and 13. In Iwaya, a densely populated Lagos suburb, fire wreaked havoc, gutting no fewer than 35 shops and shanties. Fifteen vehicles were also burnt.
Apapa, the city’s maritime hub, also felt the pain. A major company was gutted by fire, and it took the combined efforts of tank farm workers and state fire officials to prevent the inferno from spreading to the fuel depots in the area. Last Thursday, 35 shops were burnt and 18 vehicles destroyed in Ijora-Badia in an inferno that led to the death of two people. Fire incidents have also been reported in Ajah, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Ejigbo, Marina and Isolo.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Authority said that it received 44 calls of fire incidents this year alone. An official of the National Emergency Management Authority said 18 outbreaks were recorded in seven days in Lagos. In an agonising case on January 1, Raphael Olawola, a seven-month-old baby, died in a fire outbreak in the Ijanikin area of Lagos.
As usual, causes of the fire disasters remain in the realm of speculation. While some of the victims suggest that an electrical surge ignited the fire in the Balogun Market, where property estimated at billions of naira was burnt, others attribute the tragic incident to an electricity transformer that malfunctioned. In this modern era, the government agencies concerned with investigating the incidents should do better.
Ascertaining the causes and putting the result in the public space would help Nigerians to steer clear of the factors that abet fire incidents. Apart from electrical faults, these outbreaks are closely connected with the poor handling of combustible materials, particularly candles, cigarettes and burning of inflammable materials. An example is the death of two siblings in Ejigbo, when a burning candle fell on the mattress they slept on, caught fire and consumed them.
Although homes and businesses in the country are suffering from massive electricity outages, Nigerians should resist the temptation of using candles as a substitute as it has been proved that candle fire is a potential cause of fire disaster. Also, Nigerians have to be circumspect with mosquito coils and generators, many of which are left on while they go to bed.
Fire incidents have been occurring with devastating consequences for a while. In 2011, the Federal Fire Service said 262 lives were lost to fire disasters in 368 incidents, while 185 died in 470 cases in 2012. The service said it was able to save property worth N19.54 billion following its intervention, though property worth N5.95 billion was destroyed.
As a matter of urgency, the FFS and the National Assembly should conclude legislative work on the National Fire Code, which the agency started promoting in 2012. The plank of the code should rest on a well sustained awareness programme for the citizens on how to prevent and control fire disasters, and prohibition of smoking in risk-prone areas.
Apart from this, it is important to understand simple, but critical, tips on how to prevent fire disasters. Some of these tips include switching off electrical appliances like refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners when leaving home (or closing from work), not overloading sockets, and ending the indiscriminate burning of materials like used tyres and refuse.
Companies, market and drivers’ unions could educate and train their employees and members on how to practise safety tips, while access to items such as smoke detectors and fire extinguishers is equally important in dealing with fire disasters.
However, market unions and homeowners should subscribe to insurance programmes, jointly or individually. Insurance helps to mitigate the losses that may arise from such incidents.
On the part of the authorities, all the three tiers of government should acquire modern fire-fighting equipment and build capacity so as to tackle fire disasters. Furthermore, the government has to be more serious about planning permits for the construction of houses, factories and markets. There are many areas in the country at present that fire-fighters find difficult to access when there is a fire disaster because of the haphazard way buildings were constructed and bad roads.
