Fire safety is everybody’s responsibility and not that of the government alone.
A Safety Professional, Mr Ariyo Waheed, said this while giving fire safety tips at a seminar organised by the Alimosho Professional Group, APG, at the weekend, in Alimosho, Lagos.
Waheed said when fire occurs it usually leaves sad memories in its trails, hence the need for all to be conscious.
He, therefore, advocated more enlightenment about fire safety in order to reduce the incidences of fire disasters in the communities.
This is pertinent as Lagos State Government reported that 113 persons and property worth over N24.69 billion were lost to fire incidents in the state last year.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr. Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, gave the figures during the ministerial briefing to mark Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second year in office.
Waheed, who works with the Lagos State Safety Commission, highlighted the beneficial uses of fire as well as the negative impacts when it is not managed properly.
According to him, three elements of fuel, oxygen and heat must not be allowed to come together in our homes.
He identified carelessness, arson, accident and natural occurence as some some of the causes of fire disasters in the state.
“Non challant attitudes, such as fueling engines while still running, thermal overloading, that is, charging so many items on a single socket and putting gas cylinders in the kitchen are some of the careless attitudes that often result to fire incidents,” he said.
On what to do when fire occurs, the safety professional advised the participants to apply cooling, smouldering and starvation methods in fighting the fire, while smouldering is the removal of oxygen from the burning surfaces by blanketing it out (covering). Starvation implies depriving the fire of more fuel.
“Removing belongings from fire scene is a form of starvation,” he explained..
