Fire disaster: Lagos records N200.59b worth of property loss in five years

ABOUT N200.59b worth of properties have been lost to fire incidences in Lagos in the last five years. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Culture gave this figures at the ongoing 2015 Ministerial Press Briefing to review activities of the sector in the last one year.

Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Oyinlomo Danmole, noted that a total of 6,541 fire calls were received in the last five years, “many of which were avoidable.”

Danmole said while cumulative Estimated Properties Lost was put at N200.59b, the cumulative Estimated Properties Saved was N645,87b.

Rescue call in the last five years was put at 397, while collapsed buildings were 59 in total. Of all the 8,278 number of calls received in the period under review, 1,278 turned out to be false calls, which is now punishable under the law.

In all the incidents, no fewer than 550 victims were recovered dead, while 498 were rescued alive.

Danmole added that 2015 had been busier for the State Fire Service. In the first three months of the year, a total of 524 fire calls were recorded, 20 rescue calls and three collapse buildings. In all, 20 people were recovered dead, four recovered alive. While emergency services salvaged properties worth of N36.6b, property estimated lost is N6.1b.

Citing that the statistics were not pleasant, the commissioner said a lot of Lagos residents still take fire safety precaution for granted.

According to him, “It is alarming that residents of Lagos treat issues that could be preventable with levity. And when we realised this, we commenced enlightenment campaign using different medium. But it is pathetic that residents of Lagos have failed to make good use of the platforms to learn how to prevent fire and if it occurs, what to do.

“Many of the fire disasters were due to carelessness. Even the so-called elitists, they don’t adhere to the preventive measures,” Danmole said.

Notwithstanding, he gave credit to the Lagos Fire Service and the State government for its modest success.