Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti has announced plans to enforce the mandatory use of fire extinguishers in buildings across the State to forestall devastating fire outbreaks.
Governor Otti disclosed this, Friday ,during unscheduled visit to No. 73 Lagos Street, off Ngwa road Aba, where a fire incident recently gutted the second floor of a two-story building, destroying property worth millions of Naira and leaving occupants homeless.
The Governor who emphasized the importance of fire safety measures, said that such tragedies could be prevented if basic firefighting equipment were available.
He stressed that proactive steps such as installation of fire extinguishers in homes and commercial buildings would help mitigate future fire occurrences.
“What we have to learn is that everyone should have fire extinguisher. It is very, very important that we take this message to everyone. We must have fire extinguishers. We will have to start enforcing it.
“If they had fire extinguishers, the fire could have been contained before it became an inferno”, he said.
Governor Otti described the incident as unfortunate and expressed deep concern over the circumstances surrounding the fire outbreak.
The Governor while noting that investigations would be conducted to determine the cause of the inferno, directed his Special Adviser on Homeland Security, Mr Chukwunenye Alajemba to investigate why officers of the State Fire Service failed to respond to the emergency.
“I am just coming back from Abuja, I was called when the incident occurred, so I said I will come down here directly from the Airport to see things for myself.
“It is quite unfortunate. Investigations will be conducted to determine the cause of the inferno.
“I need to get a report about the Fire Service officers, why their phone were put off and this whole place burned down completely.
“We spent a lot of money equipping them, buying them vehicles. In the past, they have responded efficiently, but unfortunately, this time they did not”, he stated.
Governor Otti also promised Government support for the victims, and assured them that efforts would be made to reduce their losses and find alternative accommodations for them.
“It is an unfortunate incident, and it has happened. All we have to do is take heart. The government will assist you to ensure that your loss is reduced,” he assured.
He further expressed gratitude that no lives were lost in the incident, noting that while property could be replaced, human lives could not.
Narrating his ordeal, the landlord of the apartment, Mr Vincent Uzuegbu, said that at about 10:30pm his wife and himself were awakened by a loud bang on their door by their tenant informing them about the fire.
Uzuegbu said that when he came out he saw that fire was increasing, adding that all efforts made to ascertain the source of the fire outbreak and to extinguish it proved abortive.
“Some of my neighbours came, we tried to see if we could see where the fire was coming from but the whole place was not accessible.
“We brought water not knowing that the fire had already entered the ceiling, it was burning up there and the smoke was just circulating down here”, Uzuegbu said.
According to him, he was able to move his vehicles out of the garage for safety and attempted to return upstairs, but disaster struck when the ceiling above the staircase collapsed.
“That was the last time I entered my house that night; I just stood there, watching helplessly as my house went up in flames, with all my property burned to ashes.
“I am squatting in my neighbour’s one room and I don’t have any business doing presently.
“This house is like my pension, it is where I get the little money I use to sustain myself and my family”, he explained.
Uzuegbu appealed to the government for support to enable him regain stability and support his family.
A victim of the fire incident, Mrs Ugochi Obinna, who narrated her harrowing experience, explained that she went to bed with her children and mother around 9:30 p.m. but was later awakened by the smell of smoke entering their room.
“After noticing the smoke, I moved round to find its source and discovered that fire was already burning outside, then I woke my mother, but by then, my children had collapsed due to the smoke”, she said.
She said that all efforts by the residents to put off the fire proved abortive adding that they lost all their personal belongings including cash, property documents to the fire incident.
“Everything we owned was lost in that fire. My husband’s N20 million business money from his scrap metal trade, important property documents, and all our personal belongings were destroyed”, she lamented.
Her husband, Mr Obinna Obi, a businessman, said that he was away at the time of the incident, but around 11:00 p.m., he received a distressing call from his wife informing him that their apartment was on fire.
“I called my friend who lives nearby because I wasn’t with my family and by the time I arrived home, the entire apartment was already gone,” Obi recounted, his voice heavy with grief.
He appealed to the State Government to assist them, noting that they are now displaced and have been surviving on donations from kind-hearted individuals.
