A bank building under construction in the Victoria Island of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, caught fire; hours later, another fire incident occurred at the Tejuosho market in Yaba area of the state.

Both incidences recorded a loss of lives and goods worth millions of naira.

It is worthy of note that few days before these fire incidents, the Lagos State government inaugurated the newly upgraded/rehabilitated fire and rescue service headquarters and three newly-built fire stations.

The project was a huge investment in retooling, upgrading/renovation projects to make the state’s Fire and Rescue Service more effective and enhance its performance.

Response to fire outbreaks

Recurrent fire outbreaks are not new to Nigerians. Major fire incidents are reported at least twice a year across the country and in most cases, the affected structures are markets.

However, the issue of concern here is the response to fire outbreaks by fire service stations across states in Nigeria.

It has been noted that responses to fire outbreaks over the years have been unanticipated, unplanned and often poorly coordinated.

As a result, the response might even end up as bad as the disasters, compounding the impact of disasters on affected persons.

Some states in Nigeria do not have effective and functional fire service stations and those that have are not evenly distributed across their territories.

Standard practice

Research findings from Science District, a source for scientific, technical and medical research, shows that the ideal emergency response time is five minutes.

This means that the fire service agency is supposed to provide aid within that time frame.

However, from reports of fire incidents across the country, the level of damage that occurs suggests that the service may not have abided by the time stipulation.

In December 2021, when fire gutted a big supermarket in Abuja, the response of the Assistant Controller-General of the Federal Fire Service in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was that they did not get information on time.

Fire service mandate

According to the Fire Service Act of 1963, the Federal Fire Serrvice (FFS) is charged with the responsibility of extinguishing, controlling, and preventing fires.

Also, the protection of life and property in addition to any other humanitarian endeavours as may be required of them.

They are also required to provide fire hydrants and other sources of water supplies and marks indicating the location of such hydrants or sources of water.

Unfortunately, their ability to fulfil these obligations have been put into question severally by the public.

Also, persons who have been fire victims alleged that the fire service did not respond to calls on time.

Francis Azi, a trader at Kugbo furniture market, Abuja, and other victims who lost millions to the market fire in January 2021, alleged that the fire service did not arrive at the scene of the incident on time.

Also, according to a report, a trader who was a victim of the Karimo market fire in July 2021, alleged that the fire service arrived late.

In Ghana, for instance, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) earlier this year said it would reduce the country’s emergency fire response from the current average time of ten minutes to the global standard of five minutes.

It also said in line with that, the service will open 92 more fire stations in strategic areas from now to 2024 in order to bring the service closer to the people.

This is to enable the service to reduce the emergency response time and align its operations to international best practices.

The FFS Acting Controller-General, Samson Karebo, earlier in the year, decried the dearth of fire-fighting personnel.

Improve response time

Federal and state fire services should provide and evenly distribute fire service stations in all the strategic locations of each state for disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response and recovery.

There is also a need to employ more manpower to ensure efficient service delivery when there are emergencies.

Both the fire service and the disaster management agencies need to embark on an intensive educational campaign among the residents regarding fire prevention and safety measures.

Citizens are expected to know what to do in case of fire in terms of first aid treatment and emergency exit rules pending the arrival of the firefighters.

Photo source: FFS