Abuja- The Acting Controller-General of Federal Fire Service, Mr Ademola Jolaoso, on Tuesday advised the public to avoid the use of fire in unsafe environment during the harmattan.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that fire outbreak in unsafe environment would usually affect lives and property.
“We must be very careful in the way we handle ignition sources, anything that could generate heat; we need to be very mindful of it.
“Once there is ignition, there is a tendency that it will spread quickly.
“So we need to guard against bringing the ignition source close to the fuel that could be available.
“Of course, fuel can come in different forms: the solid, the liquid and gaseous forms. In the solid form we have the wood, paper, fabrics and all the rest.
“And as far as the liquid is concerned, we have the petrol, diesel, paraffin, any spirit and all the rest.
“Of course, the gaseous form, your cooking gas, aerosol, all these spray that you use.
“You need to be very careful. We all know that this is the harmattan period and this is the period where everything around is dry because of the nature of the weather.
“As such, any little spark could result in serious fire, because the fire will spread very quickly.’’
Jolaoso also stressed the need for the public to have fire extinguishers in their homes to bring fire outbreak under control whenever it happened.
“We’ve always preached to people to have in their premises first aid box and fire-fighting equipment such as portable fire extinguishers.
“In most cases, fire starts small. So, if you can do something at the incipient stage, you will be able to address it quickly before it will spread.’’
Jolaoso urged the public to contact the nearest fire service station when they experienced fire outbreak, saying early rescue efforts usually reduced casualties.(NAN)