December 09, 2015 – The magnificient structure housing the defunct Nigerian Telecommunication, NITEL in Lagos Island local Government was on Tuesday gutted by fire, damaging properties worth several millions of Naira.
This came barely few hours after the State government said 15 distress calls were attended to on Monday and that emergency responders have responded to over 42 emergency calls through toll free lines in the first week of December.
We gathered the fire started at about 6 pm at the top of the 32 storey building, forcing the occupants and passersby to raise alarm over the inherent danger the fire would have on the structure.
An eye witness informed us that though the floor was filled with used combustible which further escalated the fire.
Confirming the incident, the Director of the Lagos State Fire service, Engr. Rasak Fadipe said that the fire was caused by an electrical park at the top floor of the building.
“The major source of power supply for the occupants of the building had been generator. But today, they switched to the public power supply. After switching to the power supply, one of the cables malfunctioned and ignited the fire.
“The fire was further escalated by the combustible materials on the floor. And for us to attack such fire, we had to go through the staircase. And within few minutes we put out the fire. I can assure you that there was no serious damage on the building,” he added.
