17th July, 2023
By Fabian Ekeruche
Seven children escaped death in a fire incident which ravaged the one-storey building housing their orphanage/motherless babies home in Aguda area of Lagos State on Sunday.
The domestic fire reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house due to power surge on Sunday afternoon.
The seven children, all boys were rescued by officials Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) who responded to the fire incident at the home, according to a statement signed by Mr Nosa Okunbor, Head, Public Affairs Unit, of the agency, in the early hours of Monday.
According to the statement, the one-storey building housing the home is located at No. 7 Wole Madariola St., off Enitan Kusimo Street, Aguda, Lagos.
“A one-storey building housing an orphanage/motherless babies home was engulfed by fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house as a result of power surge which was said to have quickly spread out.
“A total of seven boys with ages ranging between one and seven years were quickly evacuated from the home and safely relocated to the compound opposite the home.
“Management team of the home informed LASEMA of plans to relocate the children to the house of the owner of the home temporarily, to ensure their welfare was sustained.
“The fire which had initially spread to the storage room of the home has been extinguished with dampening down concluded.
“Post disaster assessment revealed that the whole of the first floor was salvaged, while the fire was contained in the store room and the rest of the ground floor was also salvaged,” LASEMA said.
The agency said that the children were formally handed over to officials of the Child Protection Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development who formally handed them over to the Red Cross.
LASEMA said that neither injuries nor casualties were recorded in the near fatal incident, adding that the operation was successfully concluded in record time.
(NAN)