Oyo records 191 fire incidents in 2 months— Official

The Oyo State Fire Service says a total of 191 fire incidents occurred in the state between January and February 2020 alone.

The Chief Fire Officer of the state, Moshood Adewuyi, said this in Ibadan while addressing reporters. He appealed to residents of the state to be cautious in the handling of cooking and electrical appliances to minimise incessant fire disasters.

”In many instances, carelessness of our people gave room for avoidable fire disasters,” he said. “Majority of these disasters are caused when people leave electrical appliances unattended to.

”Many people leave cooking gas unattended to, resulting in many of the disasters that we have experienced over time.”

Dugbe inferno

On the recent fire incident at Dugbe market in Ibadan, Mr Adewuyi said a welder, who was working close to where an highly inflammable content was kept, ignited the fire.

Mr Adewuyi said in 2019 alone, 567 fire calls were received with 44 of them false while 18 lives were saved with 20 others lost.

He said property saved stood at N255.912 billion, while estimated loss was N689.590 million.

Mr Adewuyi added that 266 calls were received between January 1 and April 20, 2020, with 11 false, adding that, “property saved stood at N767,550 billion, while estimated loss was put at N375.460 million.