Policeman Dies As Fire Guts Two Lagos Island Buildings

A policeman died on Tuesday when part of a six-storey building that was being gutted by fire collapsed on him while he was controlling the crowd that had gathered at the scene.

The six-storey building located at 43 Martins Street, Lagos Island, collapsed around 8:30p.m. on Tuesday as firemen continued spirited efforts at extinguishing the inferno.

Part of the burning building collapsed on the policeman, severely injuring him while trying to control the surging crowd.

His death was confirmed by Mr Olanrewaju Elegushi, Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Lagos Central Business District who told NAN that the policeman died in hospital following injuries sustained in the building collapse.

Besides the six-storey building situated at Oluwole Market, adjacent to Mandillas Building, elsewhere in Lagos Island, a three-storey building located at Dosunmu Street was also gutted by fire.

While the fire at the three-storey building on Dosumu street was successfully put off, fire servicemen were still battling to extinguish the fire  raging at the six-storey building at Martins Street as at 7:40p.m. on Tuesday.

Combined team of servicemen from Lagos Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, Julius Berger, UBA and Union Bank were at the scene battling to extinguish the fire.

The Director General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu,

Oke-Osanyintolu, said at the scene that emergency officials were able to localise the fire and stopped it from spreading to other buildings.

“We received call earlier this morning that there is a fire incident that involves two multistorey buildings at Martins Street and Dosumu Street in Lagos.

“Immediately we activated our emergency response plan and other stakeholders in managing emergency moved to the scene.

“We were able to locate and localise the fire but the major challenge we are having is access to major source of the fire; secondly, we discovered that they stored highly inflammable materials in the building.

” The way the building is positioned is adjacent and interlocked to the centre area, but we make use of combined team method to localise the fire which spread from one shop to the other but we are trying to put it off now,” Oke-Osanyintolu said.

He appealed to Lagos citizens, especially the traders at Lagos Island markets, not to panic as there was no casualty involved in the incident.

He, however, pleaded with traders to stop putting generators and petrol inside their shops to avoid similar accidents in the area.

Chief (Mrs) Folashade Ojo, Iyaloja of Lagos, who also visited the scene, called for regular public power supply to prevent indiscriminate use of generators causing fire outbreaks.

 Also speaking to newsmen, Director General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr Lanre Mojola, attributed crowd control as a major challenge at scenes of fire and other accidents.

Mojola said that Lagos State emergency team and other stakeholders were working hard in ensuring that the fire did not affect any other building in the area.

Olanrewaju Elegushi, Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Lagos Central Business District, said the state would soon provide fire hydrants in the area to enable the servicemen have access to water.

Elegushi sympathised with the affected traders and urged them to insure their property to enable them sustain their businessess.

The South West Commanding Officer, Federal Fire Service, Mr Ganiu Olayiwola, said there was need for hydrant in Lagos markets, saying that insufficient access to water affected putting off the fire.

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