Follow Us on Google
By Lukman Olabiyi
The Lagos State Government has revealed the cause of the inferno that claimed many lives at six-storey Afriland Towers, a commercial building on Broad Street.
The incident, which claimed lives on Tuesday, September 16, according to the state government, was caused by a spark from the inverter batteries powering lights to the tower, located in the basement of the building.
This was revealed by the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr Lanre Mojola, alongside the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, the Director-General, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, and the Director, Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), Wuraola Makinde, at a press conference on Thursday, September 18.
Both Mojola and Adeseye attributed the cause of the deaths recorded to the smoke inhaled by the victims at the scene of the incident.
Mojola said the smoke from the source of the fire spread quickly to all the floors.
He dispelled insinuations that the rescue team arrived late at the scene, adding that emergency responders responded quickly on receiving a distress call.
“At 1:30pm, we received a distress call and quickly mobilised. On the ground were LASAMBUS, LASEMA, and the Safety Commission. The director of fire went straight to the building to ascertain where the fire was coming from and discovered it was from the basement of the high-rise building. It was found that it was caused by the inverter batteries in the basement. The smoke from the fire quickly spread through the basement and went up across all the floors,” Mojola said.
Other News
The Director-General added that the tower had adequate fire rescue equipment, exit points, and an alarm system, noting that the alarm was working at the time of the incident.
“People panicked, anxious to go out of the building while inhaling the smoke, which resulted in casualties. No one died from injury from the fire,” he said.
He called on owners of high-rise buildings in the state to continue to apply for certification of their buildings from the state government and assured them of the government’s resolve to protect the lives of the people.
Corroborating Mojola, the Director-General, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, said officers of the service arrived at the scene 20 minutes after they received a distress call.
“The response was timely. We received a call at 1:38pm and arrived at the scene at 1:56pm. We found out there were sympathisers trying to assist the victims to escape the building. We quickly tried to rescue the occupants. Our preliminary investigation also revealed the cause of the fire to be from the inverter in the basement. There were three exits, smoke detectors, and a hose.
The alarm was ringing, and the victims were so anxious to get out; some were trying to force their way out. They could have escaped through the exits; probably some were waiting for people to come and rescue them. The victims died from smoke from the incident,” she said.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, have, in separate letters, expressed their condolences to family members, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) over the fire tragedy.
