•Destroys N54m property in Ebonyi
By Christopher Oji & Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
Few hours to start its Annual 5-day crusade, the devil struck as a mystery fire razed down the Household of David Church, Surulere Industrial Road, off Adeniyi Jones,Ikeja, Lagos.
Although the fire outbreak has been successfully put out by the emergency responders, it has already destroyed property worth several millions of money.
A worker in the popular Church,said they had advertised the 5-day programme, sharing flyers as they were expecting thousands of people in the Church today’s evening (Wednesday), when the devil struck at about 11am.
“We have been making arrangements, even going as far as decorating the place and training some of our members on how to confront emergency situations, such as a fire outbreak, guess who trained our people, Fire Service.”
According to South West Coordinator,the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, “The fire which started at about 11am at the rear end of the church was not noticed by the church workers, but passersby who drew the attention of the indoor workers to the incident.
“No one sustained injury and no casualty was recorded.The church had organised a 5-day crusade starting from this evening by 5pm and ending on the 4th of February, 2024.
“The premises was said to have been leased and insured and hired by the Church.It was found out that due to the expected turn out of congregants for the crusade, the Church workers had been trained by Fire Service to prepare for any eventualities”.
However, reacting to the sudden incident, the Senior Pastor of the Church, Olusola Osunmakinde, encouraged his members and the general public not to lose hope in God.
He, however, assured members of the church that regardless of the incident ,the programme set for Wednesday, January 31 will still be held at the same venue.
He said, “Some people saw the whole thing from the beginning and by the grace of God, We’ll have a greater recovery.
As at press time, the agencies on ground at the scene are :NEMA, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Lagos Emergency Management Agency, State Fire Service and the Police.
In a related development, Director of Fire Service, Ebonyi State, Eseni Ibiam, has disclosed that properties worth more than N54 million were destroyed by fire incidents across the state last year.
He told newsmen in Abakaliki, that the door-to-door fire prevention enlightenment organized by the service contributed immensely in the reduction of fire incidents in the state.
“We call it prevention work and it is our duty to go out and tell people how to prevent fires both in the public and privately owned companies and a good number of them have been complying, following the guidelines that we set out,” he said.
He attributed the major cause of fire incidents in the state in 2022 to indiscriminate bush burning, while advising that people, “should always clear their undeveloped plots to prevent fire incidents, we have been educating people who engage in bush burning and cigarette smoking to ensure that they totally put off the smoke in the cigarettes before disposing it.”
He listed other causes of fire to include: carelessness; power surges, gas cooker explosions, and appealed that people should always make fire extinguishers readily available in their individual homes and offices.
The director further disclosed plans to establish other fire stations at 135 in Ohaukwu LGA, Iboko in Izzi LGA and Ikwo even as he appealed for the state government’s intervention for them to repair their broken-down fire engines and equipment.
“We have eight fire engines scattered in different parts of the state- Afikpo, Ohaozara and the Government House, we already have a fire station at Onueke, but there is no equipment there,” Ibiam stated.