Fire Guts Elephant House, 12 Others 17 Mar 2014 NEMA, Fire Service respond to 13 emergencies in two days By Chiemelie Ezeobi A weekend fire in different parts of Lagos State, including the popular Elephant House opposite the Passport Office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Alausa, Ikeja, has gutted 13 structures and buildings, emergency rescue workers revealed. This was as emergency workers from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and the state fire service said they had responded to about 13 emergency cases in two days. Although there was no casualty in all the 13 fire incidents, the fire had razed down structures and properties running into millions of naira. Preliminary investigation at the Elephant House revealed that the fire was caused by electrical surge in one of the several offices in the five-storey high rise building. Confirming the incidents, the spokesperson of NEMA, South-west Zone, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said they were able to successfully contain the fire at Elephant House to the office it emanated from. He said, “In the past two to three days, we have responded to over 10 emergency situations across the length and breadth of the state. “On Friday alone, we responded to five emergency calls from Ikoyi, lkorodu, Ajegunle, Apapa and Somolu. Although some of them were large fires, others were small ones which were brought under control without the need for fire service intervention. “In one of the incidents, the fire service had responded to a distress call at Ajegunle only for hoodlums to attack the fire truck from Sari-Iganmu and destroyed both the wind screen and pump. “The hoodlums attacked despite the police escort, which was attached to the firemen. It was only later that the police were able to arrest them. “ He added, “On Saturday only, we responded to seven emergency calls and were able to carry out successful rescue operations. At least, lives were saved even though properties were gutted by the fire. “One of the incidents occurred at the Idimu area of the state, where the fire destroyed about 12 rooms before we managed to control the flames. Also, another fire incident destroyed 10 rooms at the Ijora Badia area. “Soon after that, we got another alert about a raging fire at Iyana Ipaja. The fire had gutted one of the buildings even though it totally destroyed one of the bedrooms in the house.” Farinloye called on residents and house owners to ensure that they fire-proof their homes by making sure that any potential fire hazard is done away with, including faulty electrical leads and sockets. Tags: Nigeria, Featured, News, Elephant House, Ikeja
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 05:32:23 +0000
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