YESTERDAY’s FIRE UPDATE

Docemu Market Fire Under Control

The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service has brought under control the raging Fire at 54, Docemo Street, within the popular Lagos Market, Lagos Island.

The Fire which was reported at 20:50 hours, Saturday involved a trio of three storey buildings but the timely intervention of coordinated tactical firefighting limits it to only the topmost floors. While the house 54 where the Fire erupted from was severely affected, houses 56 and 58 it spread to were however sparsely involved.

Meanwhile, the cause of the Fire is yet unknown as investigation will reveal thereafter while it affected variety of goods that include key lock/cylinder, decoration fittings, Christmas items among others which cost cannot be immediately ascertain.

There is no record of injury nor death as operations enter dampening down.

Adeseye Margaret
Director,
Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service
October 29, 2023

nlfpmod:


@Mr_JAGs (Twitter)

Kionrae:
Na youruba man purposely dey set this markets on fire
Jealousy too much

divide9ja:
The rate at which igbo biz are being burnt is worrying

divide9ja:
The rate at which igbo biz are being burnt is worrying

divide9ja:
The rate at which igbo biz are being burnt is worrying

EmekaBlue:
Fire 🔥Fire e never burn this country...give me plenty water make I quench the fire

Daddy showkey

Dbestbrest:
Thank you, Lagos state fire services, thank you, Lagos state government for your prompt response to the distress calls. We will all end this year well and for the traders that lost fortune to the inferno, God Almighty will replenish your pockets and send helpers to you all in Jesus' Name

Kionrae:
Na youruba man purposely dey set this markets on fire
Jealousy too much

divide9ja:
The rate at which igbo biz are being burnt is worrying

Olatundex22:
I am an IDIOT

Olatundex22:
idiot

Bedminton:
Sometimed i wonder what keep burning this market, is it human mistake or intentional? Market getting burn here and dere!

naptu2:
The only unusual thing this time is that it occurred during the Rainy Season.

It has almost become a tradition that there should be major fire outbreaks at Oko Baba (on the Mainland) and on Lagos Island sometime between September and January every year. The reason for the fire outbreaks is quite obvious.

Oko Baba is a gigantic illegal sawmill. Dry wood is stored haphazardly over a wide area in Ebute Metta. The wood and sawdust is often burnt there, making it difficult for motorists on Third Mainland Bridge to see (driving down that stretch of the bridge is extremely dangerous because of the smoke). The Government has had plans to relocate the sawmills for a very long time. These plans have often been frustrated by people who spread rumours that the government just wants to steal land. It seems as if there is a major fire outbreak at that place every single dry season. There was another fire outbreak there yesterday.

There have also been fire outbreaks at the various markets on Lagos Island almost every Dry Season since the 1980s. One of the reasons for the fires on Lagos Island is the enormous amount of illegal fireworks that are stored there every Christmas season. The fire in 2012 caused such a huge explosion that some people thought that Boko Haram militants had bombed Lagos. The explosion was so powerful that it knocked down part of the building in which the fireworks were stored. The sale, distribution and use of these fireworks have been illegal since the early 1980s, but people keep using them during the Christmas season and so there is a huge market for them and this market is centred around Lagos Island.

The large number of clothes that are sold on Lagos Island also serve as fuel for these fire outbreaks that occur during the Dry Season. On one occasion someone was trying to refuel an electricity generator that was still on and this caused a fire that burnt through bales of fabric.

naptu2:
Fire, fire, fire everywhere

This is another post in the "The Problem With Nigeria Is Nigerians" series.

Market fires have been very common in Nigeria since I was a kid. As I've previously written, it has become a tradition that there would be fire outbreaks at the Oko Baba Sawmill on Lagos Mainland and at the various markets on Lagos Island during the Dry Season. This has become the norm.

However, in recent times, something absolutely crazy has accompanied these fire outbreaks. There has been this insane claim that the fires were deliberately set so that (1) the government could take over the markets (2) in order to chase Igbos away.

Of course these claims are absolute nonsense. There have been fire outbreaks in markets all over Nigeria and these fire outbreaks have been a regular occurrence for decades. For example, were these fires set because the Lagos State Government wants to take over land or because it wants to drive Igbos away?

Fire Breaks Out in Onitsha Main Market, Shops And Offices Destroyed Photos)
https://www.nairaland.com/7621505/fire-breaks-out-onitsha-main

Goods, property destroyed as fire guts auto parts market in Abia
https://www.thecable.ng/goods-property-destroyed-as-fire-guts-auto-parts-market-in-abia

Fire Outbreak At Monday Market Maiduguri Last Night.
https://www.nairaland.com/7586380/fire-outbreak-monday-market-maiduguri

Another Popular Maiduguri Market On Fire
https://www.nairaland.com/7617070/another-popular-maiduguri-market-fire

Couple burnt to ashes as fire engulfs Ilorin market
https://guardian.ng/news/couple-burnt-to-ashes-as-fire-engulfs-ilorin-market/

Fire Guts Rivers Oil Mill Market
https://www.nairaland.com/7608054/fire-guts-rivers-oil-mill

Abuja: Fire Razes Dei-Dei Furniture Market
https://www.nairaland.com/7602079/abuja-fire-razes-dei-dei-furniture

Apata Market In Ibadan On Fire
https://www.nairaland.com/7482487/apata-market-ibadan-fire

And if you research each one of these markets, going back more than 40 years, you'll discover that it has suffered from regular fire outbreaks.

But that's not even what this post is about.

You see, one of the reasons why problems do not get solved in Nigeria is because Nigerians love sensational lies. The rational thing to do when there is a problem is to properly investigate the actual cause of the problem and then to take action to prevent this problem for occurring again. But what happens when you administer malaria medicine to a typhoid patient?

Instead of sensibly analysing the causes of problems, many Nigerians would rather create some ridiculous and nonsensical conspiracy theory and then they'll start chasing that theory. What this means is that the problem will never be solved, because they are chasing the wrong cause. The typhoid patient will die.

This is why there will continue to be regular fire outbreaks at markets all over Nigeria.

Instead of realising that they need to have fire suppression systems at the markets, instead of realising that they need to have better means of storing flammable goods, instead of realising that they need to make the markets accessible to large fire trucks (no street trading or obstructing market roads with goods or large trucks), instead of having fire alarms, instead of conducting fire safety lectures for traders in the market and instead of having fire hydrants and other such things in the market, people will keep chasing a useless conspiracy theory that government wants to take the land. Do you think that government needs to set fire to the market in order to take over the land if it really wants to??

I'll give you an example.

It became a tradition in Nigeria that high rise building would be burnt down by fire in the 1980s and 1990s. I can tell you about many high rise buildings that were thoroughly burnt at that time. There was NET Building in 1983, Nepa Building in 1982 and 1990, Independence Building in 1993, Lapal House c2001 and so on and so forth.

Yes, there were conspiracy theories about the cause of these fires. People claimed that government officials had stolen money and therefore, they set fire to the buildings in order to hide evidence of the fraud.

However, thankfully, the conspiracy theorists were not in charge of the buildings. The people that are in charge of the buildings are more sensible than the conspiracy theorists. They had investigations into the causes of the fire and how to prevent or minimise them.

These investigations showed that (1) there were no snorkels (aerial platforms) in Nigeria (2) Tall buildings needed to have fire suppression systems (sprinklers) (3) There was a need to have fire hydrants near tall buildings (because water trucks will not have enough water to deal with such large fires), (4) there was a need to have helipads on roofs or fire escapes through which occupants of such buildings could escape, etc.

These measures were put in place (Union Bank actually bought its own snorkel for its headquarters) and now you don't hear of tall buildings burning down the way you used to hear about it in the 1980s and 1990s.

The same could be done for markets, but lunatics would create all kinds of conspiracy theories if the government tries to enforce them (Nigerians hate regulations and enforcement of regulations, yet they want a better society. Nigerians are the problem of Nigeria).