According to the Ondo State Fire Service Law 1978, Cap 39, the Ondo State Fire Service was established for “the purposes of the extinction of fires and the protection of life and property in case of fire,” the extent to which the organization has done this is in serious doubt.
Idanre is one of the largest local government areas in the state, but on Thursday 13th of November 2025, when fire broke out at a house in Logunro Street, an eyewitness account says it took the state fire service almost two hours to get to the scene, as there is no fire service outpost in the entire local government.
By the time help arrived, the one-story building, housing about sixteen families, had been destroyed.
According to one of the residents, the fire service in Akure couldn’t respond to the situation; they had to mobilize from the station in Owo.
This is not an isolated incident in the community.
In February 2023, a fuel-laden tanker fell from its truck, spilled its contents, caught fire, and burned a fueling station and another building to the ground.
The current Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who was as at that time, the deputy governor, promised that the government would take steps to ensure such incidents are prevented.
“I am here on behalf of the governor to do a spot assessment of what has happened. We learnt that no life was lost, except those who are in the hospital.
“We want to call on people to be patient. The Ondo State Emergency Management Agency is here, and we have taken stock of all the properties and materials that are lost.
“We will do a proper assessment and see what the government can do to support the people,” he said.
A year before the tanker fire incidents, shops in the popular Ojota market in Idanre went up in flames, and the people had to fetch water with buckets and bowls to put out the fire. An effort that ended in the loss of properties worth millions of Naira.
The service is not only constrained by its few numbers of offices; it also has shown a lack of capacity to respond on time, even in the state capital.
Oluwatuyi Quaters is less than a five-minute drive from the state headquarters of the service in Alagbaka, Akure, but when fire engulfed the house where Mrs Olurankinse lived, her two children were already dead and the house destroyed before they came.
“When the fire started, the neighbours around made efforts to put it out and rescue the kids, but their efforts were unsuccessful,” an eyewitness recounted.
“People called the state fire service, but by the time they arrived, things had gone out of hand. The kids had died,” they said.
Alhaji Akeem’s place was a one-stop shop for groceries and frozen foods for people around the Sunday Bus stop in Ijoka Road, Akure, until December 2024, when a midnight fire incident burnt the shop and several others to the ground.
According to eyewitnesses, the Fire service arrived almost 70 minutes after the first call; by then, everything had been incinerated.
In March 2024, when a taxi cab suddenly caught fire, about two blocks from the state headquarters of the service, an eyewitness account says it took almost 10 minutes for the men of the service to get there with a firefighter truck that was leaking.
An agency on life support
When DNN Media visited the state headquarters in Alagbaka, Akure, in December 2025, the office presented a picture of an agency of government considered unimportant and waiting for its demise.
The signpost had faded, and the text was barely legible. The wall is old and defaced, and the two gates leading into the office have become broken and twisted.
The window planes were old and dirty, and the building had obviously not been renovated in several years. Two fire trucks stood in the bushy garage, with an old white ambulance standing on the side.
A subsequent visit to the stations in Owo and Ondo painted a similar picture of complete neglect. At both stations, only three to four men were seen around the offices.
Challenges
The agency is faced with two major challenges; the first is obviously poor finances. According to the Ondo State budget documents available to the public on the website of the Ondo State Ministry of Budget and Planning, a paltry 9.4 million naira was allotted to the agency for the running of its activities across the state in the 2025 budget. It is the highest it has been in three years.
In 2024, the agency only got a budgetary allocation of nine million naira; this was an improvement from the six million it got in the 2023 budget to manage and respond to emergencies across 18 local government areas.
When compared to several allocations made to some projects and offices, the State Fire Service appeared to have been abandoned.
The office of the Secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG) got 80 million naira in the 2025 budget, while the sum of 1 billion naira was allocated for the building of a VIP suite in the Ondo State Government house.
The budget for the Lagos Liaison office of the state stood at 100 million Naira in the same 2025 budget.
The Ondo State House of Assembly, which is saddled with the responsibility of approving the budget, allocated 67 million naira for its committee refreshments in the 2024 budget and 68 million naira in 2025.
Several of the offices only have one functional fire truck provided in February after a series of fire incidents across the state and public outrage over the obvious lack of capacity by the agency.
Professionalism question?
In the course of this investigation, DNN Media discovered that, unlike the Federal Fire Service, the Ondo State Fire Service head is not a firefighter.
Engr. Folorunsho Seinde is an Engineer from the State Ministry of Works posted to head the agency; he has no prior training.
A firefighter advocate and the coordinator of Open Sunshine Initiative, in an interview with DNN Media reporter, highlighted the challenges of the Ondo State Fire Service and what needed to be done.
He pointed out that the organization suffers from a lack of funds, which has made upgrading difficult.
“Ondo State Fire Service is handicapped. It’s struggling to meet up with its mandate, thanks to deliberate neglect by the government. And the reason is not far-fetched.
“The Fire Service doesn’t make money and therefore may not have the ‘right’ to be upgraded.” He said
The activist also mentioned the lack of regular training for the officers of the agency.
“Recruitment and training are the first major hurdle the service must successfully climb. The recruitment process is flawed and ingenious. Young people who get recruited to the service immediately switch up to the Ministry of Works to become ‘proper’ civil servants.
“It’s also worth to note that the service might not have placed these firemen and officers on any training, home and away, in the last ten years. This definitely will affect delivery. ”
Ajongbolo also decried the conditions under which the men work. “Have you been to the seven or eight fire stations in the state in the past days? No sane person will work there and remain sane. The buildings are worn out.
“The perimeter fences are gone. No adequate equipment, including firetrucks. No emergency service will work optimally at that rate.”
When asked what the government can do to resolve the challenges, he suggested a restructuring
“I suggest that the State Government remove the Service from the Ministry of Works and place it under the Governor’s Office.
“There will be more attention, while the governor (anyone in office) will have the mandate to make sure they’re working perfectly.
“The Service must also be led by trained firemen and officers and not civil servants from the Ministry of Works who had abandoned the service earlier in their careers,” he advised.
As the state enters into dry season, when fire incidents are common, will the status quo continue?
This report was produced with support from Civic Media Lab
