The Federal Fire Service (FFS) on Wednesday said it has commenced an investigation into the cause of a fire incident at the Federal Ministry of Finance Headquarters in Abuja.
The spokesman of the Service, ACF Paul Abraham, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.
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“Investigation has commenced to ascertain the actual cause of the fire,” the statement said.
A fire outbreak was recorded at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja on Wednesday morning.
Social media footage showed smoke billowing from the building located at the Central Business District of the nation’s capital.
In a tweet, the ministry attributed the incident to an isolated battery pack, saying the situation had been brought under control.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance HQ is not on fire as reported on social media. Rather, there was an incident on the corridor in the basement involving an isolated battery Pack (photo inset). It was quickly put out by the security personnel on duty,” the tweet read.
Corroborating this tweet, DCF Abraham said the Controller General of the FFS, Dr Karebo Pere Samson, had urged residents of the FCT not to panic, assuring that the fire had been brought under control and maintained there was no cause for alarm.
He said men of the FFS who arrived at the scene about two minutes after they received a call discovered that some staff of the Ministry had used fire extinguishers to bring the situation under control.
DCF Abraham said firefighters carried out an on-the-spot assessment to ensure no case of reignition before leaving the scene.
He said the Controller General called on Nigerians to take a queue from the Ministry of Finance by equipping their homes and offices with fire equipment.
