‘Most buildings don’t maintain fire defence equipment’

Mr. Opetunsin Julius, Acting Controller, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Fire Service, said non-observance of fire regulation portends serious danger to high rise buildings in the FCT. There are allegations that fire wardens arrive late at fire incident points? This is what people normally say but as I talk with you now in Asokoro, if there […]

Mr. Opetunsin Julius, Acting Controller, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Fire Service, said non-observance of fire regulation portends serious danger to high rise buildings in the FCT.

There are allegations that fire wardens arrive late at fire incident points?
This is what people normally say but as I talk with you now in Asokoro, if there is fire at Maitama how would we know when they don’t call us? Our control room number is 09-2906118. When you call the control room number, the control room will turn in the nearest fire station. That is why we keep five minutes response time and we are trying to improve on it. Some people even decide to come to our office to inform us about fire somewhere and we know fire doesn’t wait for anyone. There is nothing like we do not come on time. Some people will even say we don’t have water in our equipment or fuel in our vehicles. It looks so funny, how you can go out with a fire appliance without water, a sane person won’t do that and no fire warden in this country can do that.
So it’s not the question of we do not have water or fuel. We are not spirits, if you don’t call us, we won’t know about some fire incidents but I assure you we don’t waste time in FCT Fire Service.
How sophisticated is your equipment?
FCT Fire Service is one of the best in this country today. We can’t say our equipment is so sophisticated but they are normal equipment. Gone are the days when people use axe and cutlass to remove victims in road crashes, now we use hydraulic expender that can extricate the victims within a short time. We have enough equipment to conduct search and rescue should a building collapse.
FCT Administration has been trying for us; they have been doing their best that is why we still remain one of the best fire fighting outfits in the country but they can still do more. We have about 13 fire stations in the FCT, eight of these stations are within the city because of the kind of buildings here.
There are fire stations in Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada, Kubwa and Karu with fire appliances and ambulances.
 Considering the large population of the FCT, do you think these fire stations are adequate?
They are insufficient. We have four new fire stations under construction. At Utako, Mbora, Kaura and Gaduwa and they are just a stereotype of the one in Asokoro. If they are completed and commissioned, it will give better coverage. Already we have eight in the Federal Capital City including Kubwa and Karu. So if you include those four it will be getting to 12. With that our response time of five minutes can even be reduced
There is an increase in high-rise buildings in the FCT, Do you have equipment to fight fire in such buildings?
If there is fire in any of the high rise buildings in the FCT, we will have serious challenge because to effect rescue in this high rise building you need hydraulic platform that can move as far as 13 or 14 floors. 
In some high-rise buildings, you will see a red cabinet, there is a hose reel of about 72 feet. That can enter about five or six offices and we can easily use that to extinguish fire in case of emergency.
At the construction stage, most of these buildings have it but as time goes on they don’t care about their maintenance. That is why we have been going round to enlighten the people about the importance of their fire defence equipment. If you have all these installations in your office and they are not functioning, you won’t know the importance until there is a fire. We have been sensitising most government offices in Abuja on the importance of the fixed installations. In some offices, they will block the escape route with junk. It is supposed to be free; or how do you evacuate people from that building during an emergency?
What is the expected fire defence equipment in an office?
Fire alarm system is important. With that, if there is an emergency in any of the offices, you can just hit the alarm bell in a glass. It sends signal to the alarm panel and it will start ringing. Fire extinguishers can be used to attack fire at the initial stage.
 What are the challenges of the agency?
Cash crunch. It is everywhere and FCT Administration has been trying for us not to suffer. Fire fighting is free but there are some oil fires that we can expend five drums of chemical foam. Then our equipment, all these fire appliances were manufactured 10 or 15 years ago. But for the maintenance culture of the FCTA, none would be working. This is what happens to some state fire services and you find them not functional again, because they don’t maintain their fire appliances. If it was manufactured 20 years ago and properly maintained it will perform the function but the life span of a fire appliance is just six years. We need more equipment, foam tenders, emergency tenders etc.
What about staff welfare?
We are taking good care of our staff. Our work is exposed to risk and disaster and when our officers sustain injury we write and they give us some cushioning. Though everything is being taken care of in our salary, government still provides succour for us because when government takes good care of you, you will be eager to do more work.
People are now struggling to join FCT Fire Service not because of unemployment but because they see the way we are performing in the FCT. If you go to any other state people may not feel encouraged to join fire service but in the FCT many bank workers do come and ask if we are recruiting.