Hell seemed let lose, Tuesday at Saka Tinubu, Victoria
Island, Lagos, when fire broke out at the national sales office of
Visafone Communications Limited.
No life was lost,
recharge cards and equipment, said to be worth millions of naira, were
lost to the fire which lasted for hours.
Although the cause of
the fire could not be ascertained, firefighters told newsmen that the
fire began on the ground floor of the building.
The fire was said to have started from the vault, where recharge cards are stored.
Director,
Lagos State Fire and Safety Service, Razaq Fadipe, was quoted as saying
that over 50,000 litres of water was used in putting out the fire, yet
it proved difficult to put out because of the peculiarity of the
building.
According to him, “There was fire outbreak around
12.56pm at 33 Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, which is where the
national sales office of Visafone is located. We rushed down to the
scene and were able to evacuate all the occupants of the building.
“Initially,
we thought the fire was on the first floor because of the direction of
the smoke but we later discovered that the fire was from the recharge
room otherwise known as the vault. There was no water at the company so I
had to get three fire trucks from Onikan, Eti-Osa and Lagos Island fire
stations.
“The Federal Fire Service also provided a truck of
water but the fire proved stubborn. Each truck contains 10,000 litres
and they all had to refill twice each in order to put out the fire. The
office was arranged in such a way that hindered our work.”
Fadipe
stressed the need for companies to organise fire drills for their staff
as this would let them know what to do in case of fire.
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