The Lagos State Government has called for caution from all Lagosians in handling all forms of fire, particularly during this harmattan period, in order to prevent unintended fire outbreaks that can easily spread and destroy lives and property.

The Director, Lagos Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Fadipe, made the call while visiting the scene of a fire on Tuesday. He decried the increase in fire outbreak in the state, which he said has become a great concern to the government. He spoke of the urgent need for all residents to be more careful, especially during this time of the year.

Said Fadipe: “Every season comes with its own challenges and it is therefore the collective responsibility of everyone of us to adapt to changes in the weather condition and promote safety measures during this harmattan season in order to curb the tide of fire occurrence and incidents.”

He disclosed that the state fire service responded to 257 fire emergency calls this month of December 2015. Fadipe disclosed that 15 persons were rescued alive from fire scenes in different parts of Lagos and six bodies were recovered, while 14 calls were discovered to be hoax.

The Fire Chief noted that most of the fire incidents happened in private homes, public buildings, warehouses, markets, sawmills and fuel tankers’ as a result of ignorance or sheer disregard for basic safety precautions.

He highlighted improper storage of petroleum products, indiscriminate burning of refuse, refusal to put out all electrical appliances to avoid power surge, using candles on wood surface, unsafe disposal of cigarette butts, careless exposure to naked light and improper use of fireworks and most importantly human carelessness as major causes of fire outbreaks in the state.

While advising Lagosians to call the toll free numbers 767 and 112 for assistance in emergency situation, Fadipe warned hoax callers to desist from such practice as their calls are likely to prevent access to distress call or delay the response time of firefighters to genuine fire scenes, explaining that timely and effective response is major to saving lives and property from disaster while a minute delay can cause major disaster or colossal loss.

•Photo shows Director, Lagos Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe.