20th February, 2013
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) owned and operated fuel dump, close to FAAN’s corporate headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, was gutted by fire on Tuesday.
A witness told journalists at the scene that the fire started at about 10.40 a.m. No life was lost before it was put off by firemen from FAAN. The witnesses said that the fire, which lasted for about 10 minutes, broke out while some workers were working at the dump site.
They said that workers in offices around the scene also brought out their fire extinguishers to assist in extinguishing the fire before the FAAN fire services came with their fire fighting equipment.
One of the workers, who spoke anonymously, disclosed that some jerrycans filled with diesel were stored in the dump .
He said that he did not know what happened but that they suddenly saw flames coming out from the fuel dump.
“Nobody can explain what really happened; all we know is that we were working and all of a sudden, we saw the place going up in flames and we started shouting for help.”
Mr. Yakubu Dati, General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, who was also at the scene, told journalists that the fire was put out on time by the men of the FAAN fire services.
He reiterated that men of the FAAN fire services have been trained to effectively combat fire incident at the airport.
“You were there when we commissioned the fire trucks and you can see how fast those firemen showed up to put out this fire.
“It shows that FAAN is working tirelessly to ensure that the airport is always safe.