The commanding officer of the Federal Fire Service, South-South command, Mr Njoku Chika, has disclosed that the command recorded 10 fire incidents in Rivers State in the last three months between 20016 and 2017.
He explained while speaking to The Tide in an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt last week that most residents of Port Harcourt do not take, preventive measures to curtail the spread of fire when it occurs. “People need to be sensitized, we have been talking to them on safety and safety measures”, he said. According to him, most of the fire outbreaks start in small occurrences but due to ignorance and such fires are not attended to. He said most people do not know how to contact the fire service during such outbreaks.
Njoku descried the situation where people try to salvage and save their property in the event of fire out break without thinking about contacting the fire service. However, the commanding officer acknowledged the challenge of the command in the area of the absence of fire fighting equipment. Similarly, the South-South zonal coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Major Eze has called on traders in the state to apply safety and preventive measures to avoid outbreak of fire which is most prevalent during the dry season.
According to Eze, traders should be properly sensitized against losses in the event of fire outbreaks.
“They should have insurance cover because no government can adequately compensate a trader that loses his wares, he said.
He explained that since most traders start their businesses at an early ago” it would be difficult for them to start afresh and they may not have the strength to build up their businesses again.