38 lives lost to fire incidents in FCT in 2017

Thirty-eight persons have died in different fire incidents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2017, according to statistics released by the FCT Fire Service. The data, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, was signed by the Assistant Controller-General of the agency, Mr Julius Opentusin. It said that […]

Thirty-eight persons have died in different fire incidents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2017, according to statistics released by the FCT Fire Service.

The data, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, was signed by the Assistant Controller-General of the agency, Mr Julius Opentusin.

It said that the 2017 casualty figure was four or 9.5 per cent lower than the 42 deaths recorded by the service in 2016.

“January recorded the highest death toll in the year under review with 17 casualties, the Fire and Rescue Statistics 2017, says.

“December followed with seven deaths, while February, May, October and December recorded the lowest fire incident casualties with one each,’’ the report said.

There were, however, no fire-related deaths in the months of July, August and September, according to the report.

The breakdown of the fire incidents and rescue statistics indicated that residential fires were 113, while fire incidents at business premises were 28.

“We recorded eight fire incidents in public buildings and six transformer fire outbreaks attracted the lowest fire and rescue operations.

“The report indicated that a total of 446 fire calls and 36 rescue calls were recorded from the 14 fire stations in the FCT.

“The fire stations are in Asokoro, Gwarinpa, Kaura Market, Games Village, Karu, Kubwa, Nji, Garki Market, Gwagwalada, Abaji, Kuje, Wuye, Kwali and Bwari.

“Asokoro Fire Station had the highest fire calls of 103, while Kaura Market had the lowest fire calls of four,’’ it said.

The report also indicated that Asokoro Fire Station had the highest rescue calls of 17, followed by Kwali and Abaji with five calls each.

“Gwarinpa, Karu and Kuje had a record of two calls each, while Kubwa and Gwagwalada had one call each.

“Bwari, Games Village, Garki Market, Kaura Market, Nji and Wuye had no rescue call record for the year 2017,’’ it said.

Spokesman of the FCT Fire Service, Mr Jerry Timveh, attributed the reduction in the number of deaths to awareness campaigns on fire prevention carried out by the agency.

“The awareness on fire prevention has helped to reduce the rate of fire outbreaks in the FCT,” Timveh said. (NAN)