Nine hundred and ninety-eight fire incidents and 242 road crashes were recorded across Lagos State in the last one year, the state’s Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Oluseye Oladejo, has said. 

 The commissioner disclosed this yesterday at a ministerial briefing to mark the two years in office of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. 

 Oladejo, who did not disclose the number of deaths recorded from the disasters, also said that property items worth about N16.62 billion were lost to the fire incidents, while the state saved about N99.72bn in rescue missions. 

 According to him, in the year under review, two incidents of oil spillage, five numbers of gas explosion/emission, a mudslide case and cases of street light electrocution were also recorded. 

 The commissioner, however, explained that the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the state’s Fire Service were able to respond to the disasters promptly through the deployment of modern equipment.

 He explained that in the last one year, LASEMA has been able to record some modest achievements that include the commissioning of the LASEMA Response Unit and training of 700 emergency management volunteers at the Relief Camp located on LASU-Igando Road. 

 “To further ensure continued efficiency and improve on the response time, a new dispatch centre was strategically located at Lekki, complete with a jetty to facilitate quick response to emergency on the waterways and for proximity to the riverine areas of the state,” Oladejo added.  

 He explained that in order to effectively control fire incidents in the state, the present administration has approved the creation of four new fire stations in the state.  

 “The new station, located at the new Multi-Agency Centre, Bolade-Oshodi, is now fully operational, while those in Olorunda-Badagry, Eredo-Epe and Ijede-Ikorodu are strategically situated to provide swift and effective services to people in these areas,” he said.

 He informed that Lagos State can now boast of 14 functional fire stations across the state, with all readily equipped to combat fire outbreak. Officers of the department, he said, were being trained in modern fire fighting techniques and the use of global positioning system (GPS) to locate streets.

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE

DATE:05/08/2017