How fire wreaked 700 shops, killed 19 in 3 months

Thousands of people have lost their homes and sources of livelihood to fire disasters in the last three months, Daily Trust Saturday reports.

While some of the fire outbreaks were as a result of negligence on the side of the victims, others were beyond their control.

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However, most of the victims attributed their losses to poor response mechanism by firefighters who usually turn up at the scenes of the incidents rather late.

Some of those who spoke to our reporters said fire service units especially in the states have collapsed, hence their inability to tackle the increasing challenges.

Endless tragedies  

Data compiled from newspaper reports on fire incidents between January and March 2022 showed that 700 shops were burnt and 688 makeshift shops affected by these fire outbreaks across the country.  

The data also showed that five schools were affected, while internally displaced persons camps caught fire four times in the first quarter of 2022.  

The year started with a fire outbreak at the Obi Isiedo foodstuff market in Anambra State. It was the first day of the year and items worth several millions of naira were destroyed. It was a pathetic beginning of the year for several families that earned a living from the market.

Since then, more than 25 markets and business places were gutted by fire between January and March 2022.

Observers said several fire incidences happened across the country but were not captured by the media and called on the federal and state governments to find a way to reduce the menace which has claimed billions of naira in terms of monetary losses and in some cases lives.

The last incident for the first quarter was recorded in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when the Karmo market went up in flames on Wednesday.

The Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said the Karmo fire incident lasted more than four hours. The director-general of FEMA, Alhaji Abbas Idriss, said no casualty was recorded during the fire incident, but goods worth millions of naira were destroyed.

In Eggon Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, nineteen people lost their lives, including a family of seven.  

An employee of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Sunday Joseph Umbuguala, his wife and three children, as well as their two relatives, died in the fire incident that occurred at midnight on February 22, 2022. 

Elsewhere in Benue State, a three-month-old baby had on January 12 died when an eight-room building went into flames in Makurdi, the state capital.

The Okobaba Sawmill in Ebute Meta, Lagos State was also gutted by fire during which 40 sawmills and 200 makeshift shops were burnt during the outbreak.   Also, one of the largest vehicles spare parts markets in Nigeria, popularly called Ladipo Market, was affected by fire outbreaks twice in three months.

Also, the CETECH building was first gutted in January where valuables worth millions were destroyed, and on February 25, no fewer than 200 shops were burnt and more money was lost to another fire incident that lasted for hours.  Similarly, the Ogbe-Ijoh market was also razed on January 23 and 100 shops were affected. 

In Niger State, two markets were engulfed by fire in two days. The Saho Rami Ultra-Modern Market was razed on January 26, while the Mokwa Main Market was also affected on January 27, where 57 shops were burnt.

In Anambra, two government offices were affected, while 400 corpses were also burnt when the mortuary of the General Hospital, Onitsha, caught fire. Ten residential buildings were also affected while a church and court were not spared. 

Citizens disturbed 

The incessant fire outbreaks have been generating reactions from residents. Some people in Abuja attributed the outbreaks to several things, including an alleged ineptitude from government officials.

Salim Yusuf, a resident of Tudunwada, a settlement along the airport road in Abuja, said if Nigeria had a more effective fire service, more properties and lives would have been saved from such incidents.

“They are either late to a fire scene or they come with just one truck. It takes them forever to refill and return to the fire scene. That is why they are always attacked by mobs,” he said.

He called for more government investments in fire fighting to save more lives and property.

Janet Ikedi also said more awareness was needed, saying most Nigerians know nothing about fire prevention.

She said, “When you see how people behave sometimes you will agree with me that we don’t know anything about fire prevention. People keep gas cylinders carelessly. They keep fuel in the bathroom, even when they know they use candles in the house.

“I will like to call on the government to do more in the area of fire prevention sensitisation. And there should be sanctions for those not adhering to fire safety codes.”

Ezekiel Abel, a Lagos resident, picked a hole in the structure of markets. He said government should be involved in the construction and operation of markets in a bid to forestall fire incidents.  

“Governments are all out for revenue generation, even from makeshift and illegal stalls within these markets, that they disregard safety concerns. It is usually very difficult to move within a typical Nigerian market. Now, imagine fire trucks making their way to a section should there be a fire outbreak,” he said.

He also said most shops within these markets lacked the basic fire fighting gadgets as traders are preoccupied with how much they make, not knowing that a fire incident could make them lose their work of a lifetime.  

He called for stricter enforcement, adding that fire fighters only come to markets after fire incidents, forgetting that such efforts ought to be channelled to fire prevention.

“If markets are shut for not complying with fire regulations, people will sit up and do the right thing,” he said.

An Abuja resident, Moyinfoluwa Adams, said fire outbreaks in supermarkets within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) pointed to the need for government and Nigerians to always do the right thing.

She said business owners needed to give their workers basic fire prevention techniques, adding, “Not that they would take over the job of firemen, but they will know the right thing to do. It is like giving first aid to an injured customer before calling the attention of a medical doctor because most fires start small.”

The Federal Government budgeted N67, 279, 903, 156 for the Federal Fire Service between 2018 and 2022. In the 2018 Appropriation Act, the total allocation to the Federal Fire Service was N9, 418, 733, 016 while in 2019 the total allocation was N9, 676, 768, 059. The total allocation for the fire service in 2020 and 2021 were N11, 756, 668, 244 and N16, 584, 839, 511 respectively. In 2022 it was allocated N19, 842, 894, 326. The total allocation covers personnel, overhead, recurrent and capital cost of the fire service.

Official point of view

The acting comptroller-general of the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Dr Karebo Pere Samson, said climate change was part of the reasons for increased incidents of fire outbreak. He explained that climate change enhanced drying of organic matter in forests (the material that burns and spreads).

“The risks of the attendant effects of climate change are imminent in this country, though we might not have experienced much of it yet,” he said.

He also said recent fire incidents at malls, shops and other public buildings showed that owners of such buildings should wake up to their responsibility of ensuring the safety of their business premises through absolute compliance to all fire safety requirements.

He agreed that response time to fire scenes had been a challenge due to bad roads, the distance of fire stations from fire scenes and many other factors.

“Considering the current staff strength of the FFS, which is 6,000, vis-viz a population of over 200 million Nigerians, you will agree with me that there is a need for additional personnel as the number at the moment is way below par, considering population surge.

“In a bit to complement our staff strength, the Service has established a fire marshal unit that avails Nigerians the opportunity to volunteer in the area of fire prevention and fighting, as well as rescue.

“We are working towards deploying technology like drones to provide intelligence on threats around fire scenes. This is due to incessant attacks on firefighters across the country,” he said.

Dr Samson also called on federal lawmakers to contribute to the fight against fire outbreaks in the country by establishing and equipping fire stations.

He said if each of them could build a fire station in their constituency, it would go a long way in helping firefighters in responding to fire disasters in the country.

“One way of reducing response time is to increase the number of equipped fire stations.

“For this reason, we call on the National Assembly, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), multinational organisations, foundations and other relevant stakeholders to support the bid to increase the number of fire stations in the country.

Samsom, who took over the leadership of the FFS on December 30, 2021 after the retirement of Liman Ibrahim, said he was already planning a massive public enlightenment campaign on fire prevention, developing a robust capacity for public and private buildings, ensuring improvement on fire protection installations and synergising with the Nigeria Air Force on building their capacity for aerial firefighting.

He said, “Fire prevention is cheaper and safer than firefighting. We can only reduce or prevent fire occurrence through massive public enlightenment; and for me, that is paramount in the months ahead.  

“We are developing a strategic framework on fire drills/simulation in all federal government’s buildings across the states of the federation. The essence of these fire drills is to ensure that occupants of these buildings are trained on what to do in a situation of fire outbreak.”  

While responding to the allegation that firefighters were always taking a long time to arrive at a fire scene, he said his men were performing well despite all the challenges.  

“The degree to which our men are exposed to hazard on a daily basis each time they combat fire or are out on a rescue operation is phenomenal.  

“Straight from the field, we have had reports of exposures of our men to what could trigger post traumatic disorder syndrome (PTDS) as first responders to traumatic scenes.  

“In some cases, they go away with serious respiratory challenges, near-death explosions of gas cylinders, just to mention a few.  

“For a fireman to risk his life, stay up round the clock attending to life-threatening situations without a commensurate reward system is inhuman and very wicked,” he said.

Taiwo Adeniyi, Joshua Odeyemi & Haruna Ibrahim