Lagos Fire Service rescues 1,300 in six years — Ex Director

No fewer than 1,300 people were rescued by the Lagos State Fire Service in different parts of the state between 2012 and April 2018.
A former director of the service, Rasak Fadipe, told the News Agency of Nigeria, at the sideline of his pulling out ceremony that the service recovered about 724 suspected dead bodies under his watch.
According to him, a total of 10,990 calls were received in all in six years.
Fadipe said fire calls top the list of emergencies, stressing that more than 8,575 calls were received in different parts of the state for fire outbreak in six years.
He noted that the number of calls on all emergency operations reduced to 1,659 in 2017 due to enlightenment to the public on fire prevention.
He said: “God really compensated me. God used the governor to move me from level 15 to 17 as substantive director. I am the first to occupy that level as fire director in Lagos State.
“All my predecessors terminated on level 15. I really thank God how far He had helped us to move the system to the extent that everybody wants to be a fireman.
“One regret as a retired director is my inability to facilitate international training programmes for some of our officers and lack of local technicians for all our equipment.
“I hope my successor will look into this since government work is a continuum.
“I thank the government and everyone that made our job easy and possible.”
NAN reports that 28 fire officers, including Fadipe, recently retired from active service after serving for 35 years.
His deputy, Rasak Musibau, told NAN that Fadipe was an excellent leader who always carried his lieutenants along in all his activities.
Musibau said that the former director’s performance would be a big challenge for his successor.
He said: “He will always be remembered anytime the history of Lagos Fire Service is read or mentioned.”
For Monirat Fadipe, wife of the retired director, “words cannot express my gratitude to God for his mercies and blessings over the household while in active service”.
She added: “For now, no more morning bells, no more call duties and late night calls as he had weathered the storm for over three decades and now deserves a rest.”