Musa Na Allah Sokoto
The Sokoto State Fire Service Department says, it has recorded 465 fire out breaks from January 2020 to date.
The Acting Director of the Fire Service Department, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Budah who spoke through the Fire Prevention Officer, Mr Nuhu Lawal said valuable properties worth over N1.1 billion were lost, while over N1.7 billion properties were saved during the incidents.
The director further stated that the fire department also recorded six deaths in the year under review as a result of series of fire infernos.
Budah explained that, the department has successfully saved 261 lives involved in various degrees of fire incidence during the year 2020 under review.
He said the department recorded 519 fire outbreaks in the year 2019, the figure he described as higher when compared with what was recorded same time last year.
The director attributed the rampant cases of fire outbreaks to negligence and carelessness on the part of the people of the state.
He stated that in an effort to reduce and solve the problem, the department embarked on an intensive house to house enlightenment campaign aim at sensitizing public on how to prevent fire out break.
He commended the state Governor, Aminu Tambuwal for providing 10 fire fighting vehicles to the department recently.
He maintains that presently the department has 17 functional fire fighting vehicles stationed at various fire offices.
Meanwhile, the department proposed additional fighting stations in some location that includes Keanawa, Bado, Mana, Kalanbaina, and old airports areas among others in addition to deploying some staff to manage the new stations.
The director therefore appealed to the State governor to release the grounded vehicles abandoned in various local government headquarters across the 23 local government areas in the state.
He also stressed the need to provide sufficient funds and recruitment of staff to enable the department cope with the present fire challenges bedevilling the state.
