*Adamawa State Government Urged to Set Up Functional Fire Stations Across Local Government Areas.
By Gloria Abutu
The Adamawa state government has been urged to establish functional fire stations in local government areas across the state to avoid disasters arising from fire outbreaks.
The Head of Operations, Federal Fire Service Adamawa state command, Deputy Superintendent of Fire, DSF Aliyu Abubakar made the call while speaking to Fombina news in Yola.
Following the dryness experienced during the harmattan in recent times, there have been reported cases of fire across the country, including Adamawa state which has already recorded about 7 cases in January this year alone.
These incidents have led to loss of lives and properties, causing damage to structures, and posing significant threats to landscapes and ecosystems, and endangering lives and livelihoods.
To curtail the devastation from fire incidents, The Head of Operations, Federal Fire Service Adamawa state Command, Deputy Superintendent of Fire, DSF Aliyu Abubakar urged the state government to set up functional fire stations across the state to minimize losses resulting from fire disasters.
“Our primary aim is to protect the lives and properties of the people and complement the state fire service and we want the state government to see this as a blessing to the state so that we can grow together and save the state from fire disaster and other disasters,” he noted.
“Local government areas such as Mubi and others really need intervention. We get calls from places like Mubi and we’ll be helplessness because of the distance, and even if we decide to move a fire engine from Yola, the fire must have eaten everything before we get there,” he added.
He noted that fire is mostly caused by electrical malfunctions, human negligence or even spontaneous ignition in certain conditions.
DSF Abubakar also identified fire prevention measures, including early detection, and effective firefighting strategies as essential in minimizing the impact of fire outbreaks on communities.
“In case of a fire outbreak, the first thing to do is to raise an alarm; the second thing is to call the fire service; the third thing to do is to use a fire extinguisher if you have one, and you are trained on handling it. But if you don’t have the knowledge, run away for your life and allow the firemen to come and do their job,” he appealed.
While also revealing that the fire service is a first responder in cases of flooding, building collapse, animal rescue among others, DSF Abubakar urged people to maintain good sanitation practices, install fire gadgets such as smoke detectors, water drenchers, alarm systems and fire extinguishers in their homes and work places and desist from illegal electricity connections to avoid fire disasters.
He also advised people to make prompt calls to the fire service in cases of outbreaks while appealing to motorists to always give the right of way to fire officers in the line of duty to prevent unnecessary delay in management of outbreaks.
According to DSF Aliyu Abubakar, “When there is an outbreak, the people in the vicinity do not always call the fire service in time, it is mostly passersby who call us because most of them don’t even have our emergency number.”
“Our emergency toll line is 09030001916,” he announced.
“Our response time within Jimeta-Yola axis is 7 minutes maximum, so if you call us when the fire is at the incipient stage, we have sophisticated vehicles, modern fire engines so we arrive in time to tackle the fire”, he said.
Timely detection and intervention through firefighting efforts are crucial to mitigate the impact of outbreaks.
Prevention strategies, education on fire safety, and the implementation of stringent regulations can to a large extent, contribute to minimizing the occurrence and consequences of fire outbreaks.
