27th April, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Fire has destroyed estimated properties worth N23.02 billion and has killed 157 people in Lagos state in the last 15 months, says the Lagos State Government.
Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Oyinlomo Danmole disclosed this on Monday at a ministerial news conference held in Alausa, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
According to the statistics released by the commissioner, fire destroyed N16.92 billion estimated worth of properties in 2014 and destroyed N6.1 billion estimated worth of properties between January and March, 2015.
In 2014, at least 137 people were killed during fire disasters while 20 people were killed between January and March, 2015 by fire.
Also, in 2014, no fewer N101.52 billion estimated properties were saved from being destroyed by the fire services, while the estimated worth of properties saved between January and March, 2015 stood at N36.6 billion.
The statistics revealed that 1,263 fire calls were received in 2014 and 524 fire calls also received between the first quarters of this year. False fire calls in 2014 stood at 307 and 63 in the first quarters of this year.
Calls for rescue in 2014, according to the records were 112 in 2014 and 20 between January and March of this year. The number of collapsed buildings in the last 15 months in Lagos stood at 13.
The number of people rescued alive during fire disasters in 2014 stood at 249 and four in the first quarter of this year.
The statistics also revealed that between 2011 and the first quarters of 2015, about N200.59 billion estimated worth of properties were destroyed by fire while during the same period period, N645.87 billion estimated worth of properties were saved from being destroyed by fire by fire servicemen.
On the reinstatement of the firemen hazard allowance, Danmole said the government recently increased firemen hazard allowances from N833 to N5,000 along with their monthly salaries, adding that the state government had approved the rehabilitation of 175 existing fire hydrants within the metropolis and construction of additional 50 new ones directly linked to the mini and micro water works in the state.
He said the government had purchased 34 purpose-built and customised modern fire-fighting equipment and accessories from Darley of Itasca Illinois, United States, adding that this translated to the supply of 15 snow dragon, a fire truck built on current Ford F650 chassis with built-in poly water tank capacity for 3,000 litres of water and 200 litres of poly-water tank and 200 litres capacity of foam tank, integral with water.