{"id":351135,"date":"2026-01-02T03:27:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T02:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=351135"},"modified":"2026-01-01T20:58:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T19:58:55","slug":"firefighters-battle-new-year-day-inferno-in-abuja-several-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=351135","title":{"rendered":"Firefighters battle New Year Day inferno in Abuja, several states"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\":1ry\" class=\"ii gt\">\n<div id=\":1rz\" class=\"a3s aiL\">\n<div id=\"avWBGd-1432\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">Federal Fire Service FFS entered the New Year on full operational alert, tackling multiple fire outbreaks across the country from midnight into the early hours of January 1, 2026, in what officials described as one of the busiest festive-season deployments in recent years.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The intensified nationwide response followed a December 2025 directive issued by the Controller General of the Federal Fire Service, Olumode Samuel Adeyemi, who had ordered that no firefighter should proceed on leave throughout the holidays.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">According to a statement by the National Public Relations Officer and Head of Corporate Services of the FFS, DCF Paul Abraham, the no-leave policy proved critical as the Service moved swiftly to contain fires in several states.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Federal Capital Territory FCT recorded its first fire incident of the year barely twenty-three minutes after midnight when flames erupted at Cake Hot Restaurant located within River Plate Park, Wuse, Abuja.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Abraham said fire crews from the Federal Fire Service and the FCT Fire Service arrived promptly and were able to stop the blaze before it could spread through the popular recreational centre.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">While a section of the garden area was destroyed, no lives were lost and no injuries were recorded.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Officials said property worth an estimated ?1.5 billion was saved, although losses were placed at about ?500 million.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u201cPreliminary findings suggested that the fire was triggered by objects thrown during New Year celebrations, reinforcing long-standing warnings over the dangers posed by fireworks during the harmattan season\u201d, the Service said.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Controller General had repeatedly urged Nigerians to avoid fireworks, candles and open flames indoors, warning that the dry winds characteristic of the season allow fires to spread rapidly.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">He also warned the public about electrical faults and power surges and advised that electrical appliances be switched off and unplugged when not in use or when occupants leave their homes, stressing that overloading sockets and extension boxes remains a significant cause of domestic fires.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"yj6qo\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"adL\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"avWBGd-1433\" class=\"WhmR8e\" data-hash=\"0\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal Fire Service FFS entered the New Year on full operational alert, tackling multiple fire outbreaks across the country from midnight into the early hours of January 1, 2026, in what officials described as one of the busiest festive-season deployments in recent years. The intensified nationwide response followed a December 2025 directive issued by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67315,"featured_media":351153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/67315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=351135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351167,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351135\/revisions\/351167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/351153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=351135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=351135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=351135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}