Lagos State government has revealed the causes of an inferno which killed many people at a six-story commercial building on Broad Street, Afriland Towers.
The incident, according to the state government, was caused by a spark on the inverter batteries, powering the light to the tower located in the basement of the building.
The director-general and chief executive officer (CEO), Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola, flanked by 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 yesterday, said the state government agencies’ swift moves averted more casualties.
Both Mojola and Adeseye also attributed the cause of the death 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 scenes, 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 the inverter batteries in the basement caused it. The smoke from the fire quickly spread through the basement and went up across all the floors,” Mojola said.
The DG added that the tower had adequate fire rescue equipment, exit points and alarm system, noting that the alarm was working at the time of the incident.
“People panicked, anxious to get 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 people’s lives.
Corroborating Mojola, the Director-General of 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 1:38 p.m. and arrived at the scene at 1:56 p.m. We found out sympathisers were trying to assist the victims in escaping the building. We quickly tried to rescue the occupants. Our preliminary investigation also revealed that the cause of the fire was 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 that 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 of the Lagos State House of Assembly Mudashiru Obasa had, in separate letters, expressed their condolences to family members, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and United Bank for Africa (UBA) over the fire tragedies.
