Fire Service: We Saved 175 Lives, N3.7trn in Three Months
- Seeks Armed Squad to fight harassment, crime at fire scenes
By Seriki Adinoyi
The Federal Fire Service (FFS) has disclosed that in the first quarter of 2021, it saved 175 lives and N3.7 trillion worth of property from being consumed, identifying industrial fire as the major reason for the spike in fire incidents.
The Controller General of FFS, Dr. Liman Ibrahim, who disclosed this during the 11th National Fire Conference held in Jos, Plateau State said: “We had 986 fire calls, 34 rescue emergencies, 175 lives saved, 11 lives lost, an estimated property of N3.7 trillion saved and an estimated property of N9.42 billion lost during the first quarter of 2021.”
Liman noted that the phenomenal increase in fire-fighting and emergency asset base under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari is unprecedented in the history of the FFS, adding that it is a confirmation and demonstration of Buhari’s administration’s commitment to ensuring the safety and security of lives and property across Nigeria.
He said that state-of-the-art fire-fighting trucks and Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances have been deployed across the country to tackle any fire incident.
While observing that the conference, by its characteristics, remains the highest technical session of Fire Services to deliberate and brainstorm on contemporary issues, Liman said it was therefore apt to adopt this year’s conference theme ‘Fire Safety Management as an Imperative to National Security’.
He warned that lack of fire safety management has the capacity to breach national security, explaining that “anything that threatens the physical well-being of the population or jeopardize the stability of the nation’s economy, food security, wildlife and forest reserves as well as institutions, infrastructures and national assets is considered a national security threat”.
To effectively cover the country, Liman said the service is working hard to ensure that the operational scope of the service reaches the remaining 72 senatorial zones with the deployment of personnel and assets to the zones.
On the security of personnel, Liman said: “We have made a call for the establishment of an Armed Squad in the service that will be saddled with the responsibility of protecting our personnel at fire scenes and investigation grounds from hoodlums and miscreants’ harassment, and sometimes assaults on fire officers and destruction of assets is totally unacceptable.”
Also speaking at the event, the state Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Rimven Zulfa, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Alfred Datoel, also considered the theme as appropriate for the time, given the predicament both as a people and nation during and after the economic drift due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, fire disasters have assumed critical dimensions by trying to defy prevention and mitigation strategies, adding that: “This phenomenon, called fire, has greatly challenged our collective resolve to reduce or eliminate its strength in domestic business or workplace.”
Zulfa also stated that recent market fire across the country have further depleted the economic strength by way of property damages and loss of lives and as the theme stands on fire policies, you are expected to develop best strategies, proactive approach towards the management of fire issues, a more drastic approach is required for effective preventive initiative, crucial to the attainment of a fire free society.
Also speaking, the Director of Fire Service in the state, Mr. Caleb Polit, said that fire administration is a very complex responsibility, and doing so in a developing world seems more cumbersome given the lacklustre attitude towards safety and security.
