The Head of Lagos Fire Service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye has commended the effort of the Lagos State Government in curbing fire outbreak by providing the parastatals with latest equipments and ensuring adequate, effective training for the personnel on the best way to handle the equipments.
Margaret Adeseye spoke with TheForesight during a one day seminar on Market Sanitation and Security for Market leaders, organized by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs in Ikorodu West Local Government Secretariat, Owutu, Ikorodu, Lagos on Tuesday 18th May, 2021.
“I can categorically tell you that we have 16 fire stations in 11 local government areas in the state. When I told Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the state about it, he wanted all the local governments in the state to at least have one fire station each.
“I can tell you that as at today, two are almost completed while two others are on-going.
“So, we are having four more fire stations to what’s on ground now, which means that we are expanding our coast, in terms of station, we are expanding our coast in terms of equipment. I know that this would go a long way in fire prevention & safety in Lagos,” she said.
Adeseye added that there are three causes of fire incidents, which she said everyone must take cognisance of, most especially traders or leaders in the market.
She said that these are Carelessness, Action and Accident.
Adeseye said that 75 percent of fire accidents in the markets were results of carelessness, and that people have been told not to use boiling ring, not to cook in the market, but that they found out that all these were still being done in the market till today.
According to her, people are using cooker, store PMS in the market more than what’s needed for the day, adding that all these are careless attitude.
The Head of Fire Service in Lagos implored people to always give the fire brigade personnel correct addresses, saying that there was a case of fire incident few weeks ago in Ogudu area of the state, but that the address they were given was Alaapere, and that they couldn’t get there until they saw where smoke was coming from.
“By then the fire had gone out of hand. That’s one of the difficulties we have in our work. Therefore, people should always endeavor to give us correct addresses when there is a fire outbreak,” she said.
Adeseye said that her personnel are always available to attend to any emergency.
Speaking further, the Epe born fire fighter said that record showed that there is 25.5 percent fire reduction in 2021 compared to year 2020 and 2019.
Adeseye stated that if they continued to follow lay down procedures, follow the little tips given to them in order to avoid fire outbreak, they would definitely have more good record in fire safety in Lagos and in Nigeria generally.
Adeseye then urged Lagos residents to be fire conscious, and that they should not light candle and put it in an unprotected base.
Adeseye warned that they should not use boiling rings in their homes, offices, workshops, and market places, and that they should always switch off electrical gadgets when they are not in use.
“If we take all these into consideration, there would be fire safety in Lagos,” she said and thanked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for taken security and safety into consideration in Lagos.