By Emmanuel Antswen
Makurdi – The Benue Fire Service on Monday said that the state recorded a total of 101 fire outbreaks between January and November 2019.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Service, Mr Doo Shave, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi that 90 per cent of the outbreaks was caused by carelessness.
He appealed to the masses to take fire safety business seriously and always install fire safety gadgets as it was better to prevent fire outbreak than control the inferno.
“The public should take fire safety seriously. You see it is better to prevent fire than to control it.
“We have recorded, from January to date, 101 fire outbreaks across the state, including the one of today.
“These outbreaks are caused by carelessness; carelessness includes carrying out certain acts or things that can be avoided or controlled,’’ he added.
According to him, people often ignore things such as installation of fire safety gadgets, smoke detectors, fire alarms, automatic fire extinguishers etc.
“Each house should have a functional fire extinguisher and all households’ members should know how to use it,” he explained.
Mr Shave further disclosed that the recent fire outbreak at Wadata Market was also caused by carelessness as the fire started at the side where chickens were usually slaughtered.
He further appealed to the masses to always ensure that they switched off electrical appliances before leaving the house.
The PRO also hinted that the State Fire Service was well equipped to handle fire outbreaks as it currently had five functional fire fighting trucks, two water tankers across six stations in the state.
He said the quick intervention of the service during fire outbreak was dependent on how fast the office was notified.
“People should get our emergency numbers and call us during fire outbreak. It is safer to call us than drive all the way to the office.
“Our quick response to fire outbreak issue is dependent on how fast the office is notified”.
On the inferno that claimed the life of Benue Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Seker Akaa, his wife and two children Mr Shave said the cause of the fire outbreak still remained unknown.
He said the Service was still investigating the incident to ascertain its cause.
(NAN)
