Afriland Towers fire: Lagos govt clarifies cause of deaths

…says basement batteries ignited inferno

Lagos State Government on Thursday clarified that smoke was responsible for the death of some occupants of Afriland Towers, Broad Street, Lagos Island, engulfed by fire last Tuesday, saying that none of the affected sustained fire injury.

It would be recalled that media report stated that the death toll has hit 10, the state government, however, stated that seven deaths were officially confirmed.

The state government made the clarification during a press briefing, which took place at Alausa, Ikeja, and jointly addressed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso; Director General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola; Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, represented by Director of Operations, Engr Olatunde Akinsanya; Director Fire and Rescue Service, Mrs. Grace Adeseye and Director LASAMBUS, Mrs Beatrice Makinde.

Addressing newsmen, Director of the Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola clarified that the fire incident started at 13:38, saying that the emergency responders got there on time, even as he identified the pack of batteries at the basement meant for emergency and energy backup as cause of the fire incident, based on preliminary investigation.

Omojola said LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, the Safety Commission as well as LASAMBUS, were all on ground on the day of the incident, adding that the rescue team led by the director of fire went into the building and confirmed that the fire started at the basement of this high-rise building.

“We had in presence, we had LASEMA, we had Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, we had the Safety Commission and we had the LASAMBUS, so the full emergency response team was on ground.

“The fire and rescue team was led by the director of fire who was physically on ground and went into the building to confirm where the source of the fire was. And it was established that the fire started at the basement of this high-rise building.

“At this basement, there were a pack of batteries that were meant to be for emergency and energy backup in the event that power goes off.

“For reasons that were not established yet because it’s still a preliminary investigation, these batteries were the cause of the fire and the fire quickly spread through the basement, but the fire service contained it to the basement,” he said.

“They were very professional about containing this fire. With regrets due to perhaps the building design, the smoke from the fire went into the vaults and went across the building,” he added.

On her part, Adeseye explained that the building was a sealed building, saying that the smoke engulfed it spread very quickly to other parts.

According to her, it is very usual for people to panic in such a situation, affirming that no one died from the fire but from the carbon monoxide.

“It is very usual for people to panic. We can say categorically that no one died from the fire but from the carbon monoxide,” she said.

She advised those that have high rise buildings in Lagos to get them registered for safety purpose, adding: “People with high rise buildings should register so that the areas can be tested and certified safe.”

Earlier in his remark, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Omotoso, said there had been speculations about the cause of the incident, which he described as very sad, and what happened thereafter.

The commissioner frowned at such, saying that “as government, we do not feel that this is the time to begin to pass a buck or begin to speculate on who did what and who did not do what.”

“That is the nature of things in Nigeria. Some have started to make all manner of comments about it without even listening to reports of what happened,” he said.

He assured that the state government took safety of life as key aspect of governance “because you cannot govern over dead people; you cannot govern over destruction of property.”

This was just as he recalled that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently commissioned about 62 fire vehicles, saying that Lagos remained the only state that can be proud of a fire engine that can go up to 10 storey buildings and more.

He further assured those who were still in hospitals of getting the best of attention and treatment.

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