Lagos Lost 157 Lives, N23bn to Fire Disaster in 2014
The Lagos State Government yesterday disclosed that 157 persons died in 1, 932 fire disasters between January 1, 2014 and March 31 apart from the N23 billion worth of property destroyed within the same period.
However, the state government disclosed that about N138.12 billion property were recovered from fire disasters recorded in the state within the same period, noting that it was working harder to stem the cases of fire disasters in the state.
The Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Mr. Oyinlomo Danmole side gave the figure at a news conference at Alausa yesterday along the Special Adviser on Information, Mr. Lateef Raji and the Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Fadipe among others.
At the conference, the commissioner said of the 157 persons recovered dead, 137 were recorded in 2014 and 20 persons died between January 1 and March 31, though 253 persons were rescued from fire disaster in the same year.
He said 79 died in 2011, 215 in 2012 and 99 in 2013, thereby bringing the cumulative number of people that lost their lives in the fire disasters between January 1 and March 31 to 550 victims.”
Danmole noted that a total of 1, 932 emergency calls which included fire disaster calls, were received and responded to by the state fire service in the last 15 months, adding that many of the cases “are avoidable.”
He said a breakdown of the calls showed that the state fire service officials responded to 1,787 fire disasters, 132 rescue calls and the 13 collapsed building. But about 370 false calls were made by the residents in the state in the year under review
He lamented the rise in the fire disaster statistics, saying a lot of Lagos residents still “take fire safety percussion for granted. Many of the fire disasters were due to carelessness. Even the so-called elitist, they don’t adhere to the preventive measures.
“And when we realized this, we commenced enlightenment campaign using different medium. But it is pathetic that residents of Lagos has failed to make good use of the platforms to learn how to prevent fire and if it occurs, what to do.”