Fire Service explains what happened during Onitsha tanker inferno
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/10/fire-service-explains-what-happened.html
The Federal Fire Service (FFS) has said that a mob stopped its men
from getting to the scene of Wednesday’s fire incident at Ochanja
Market, Onitsha, in Anambra.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) Spokesperson of the
agency, Ugo Huan, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
He said “The Federal Fire Service received a call about the fire outbreak around 2.00 p. m.
“The control room at the headquarters in Abuja immediately turned out
its nearest station at Asaba, Delta State, to attend to the fire.
“Our men immediately headed to the scene but it was not possible to
contend with the heavy traffic at the Niger head bridge, coupled with
the behaviour of an angry mob who pelted stones at them.
“Thus, it was not possible for the firefighters to get to the scene and fight the fire in such a hostile environment.”
Reports say that no fewer than five persons, including a woman and
her child, died in the inferno caused by the explosion of a petrol
tanker.
Many buildings and shops were also torched in the disaster, according to reports.
The spokesman said the FFS Controller General, Mr Liman Ibrahim, was
deeply saddened by the incident, and had expressed his heart-felt
condolences to the victims and their families.
“The Federal Fire Service is committed to ensuring the safety of
lives and property, with the procurement of new state-of-the-art
firefighting trucks distributed to the 12 zones of the service across
the nation.
“The service is always ready to respond to fire outbreaks and other emergencies across the nation.
“It is worthy to note that similar situations in recent past in
Sokoto, Uyo, Minna, Ibadan, Osun and Lagos were prevented from
escalating to a major disaster by the Federal Fire Service.
“The case of Ochanja market was an unfortunate one, as one will
wonder why individuals will want to attack firefighters that came to
help put out fire that was threatening lives and ravaging property,” he
said.
Huan added that “the service will like to use this opportunity to
appeal to Nigerians that in as much as the fire service is prepared and
committed to saving of lives and property in emergencies, their support
and cooperation is highly needed to do that.”
He further explained that the service remained committed to its
mandate of saving lives and property of Nigerians and others residing in
the country.