Lafia- Alhaji Dogara Dalhatu, the Chief Fire Officer, Nasarawa Fire Service, said on Monday that the office received 127 distress calls from January to December 2014.
Dalhatu made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia.
According to him, 107 of the 127 distress calls recorded were on fire incidents while the remaining 10 emergency calls were false alarms.
He said that seven lives were lost while 28 others were saved through rescue operations by men of the Fire Service during the period under review.
Dalhatu said property worth more than N44 million were lost to the fires as against the recovery of property valued at N692 million during the rescue operations.
He said most of the fire outbreaks were caused by hoarding of petroleum products in homes, improper connection of electric cables, bush burning and power surge.
Dalhatu further said that some fires were due to carelessness on the part of parents who allowed their children access to matches and combustible materials.
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He advised residents in the area to always switch off electrical appliances before leaving their homes.
The fire chief advised residents to employ the services of professionals and certified electricians to avoid fires.
He said people should keep their environments clean, to avoid fire resulting from bus- burning.
“People should learn to keep their environments clean, to avoid fires from bush-burning, especially during the harmattan period.’’
He said residents should acquire fire-fighting equipment such as fire extinguishers and other fire-fighting chemicals.
While expressing gratitude to the state government for providing the service with modern fire equipmen, Dalhatu appealed for more assistance to enable the service to discharge its duties efficiently. (NAN)