NO fewer than 15 separate fire incidents were recorded in parts of Ekiti State in the first eight days of 2018, the state government has revealed.
A government statement, on Sunday, quoted the state’s Commissioner for Public Utility, Chief Tunde Ogunleye, to have made this known in Ado Ekiti.
The statement said Ogunleye had listed the incidents to include those at the Government College, Efon Alaaye; Oja Olope and a housing estate under construction at Iworoko Road in the state capital.
He was said to have also listed a fire incident at the Government House among the others.
The commissioner noted that the harmattan period was susceptible to fire outbreaks, and cautioned residents in the state to avoid acts that could lead to bush and domestic fire accidents.
Ogunleye stressed that people in the state must refrain from bush burning and from storing inflammable substances such as petrol at home to prevent avoidable fire disasters that could lead to loss of lives and property.
He also warned against allowing underage children to handle fire, emphasizing that gas cookers, stoves and fire woods should be properly extinguished after cooking while motorists and automobile mechanics should have functional fire extinguishers in their vehicles and workshops.
The commissioner highlighted other common causes of fire to include careless smoking and faulty electrical wiring.
Assuring that the state government would not relent efforts at safeguarding lives and property in the state, Ogunleye said the state’s fire services responded to 125 emergency calls in 2017 and had saved 19 lives and property worth about N3.282billion.
He also announced that nine lives and property valued at N105.23million were lost during the same period.
He called for the support of all and sundry in the efforts to protect lives and property in the state, stressing that “simple habits of switching off electrical appliances when not in use as well as handling inflammable materials with care would go a long way in preventing fire disasters.”
He gave the emergency line of the state fire services as 08035785164 and 07069582302.