A 33,000 litres capacity oil tanker fully loaded with Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS (Petrol), with registration number KJA-900XR, was gutted by fire earlier this morning.
The oil tanker which spilt oil was blanketed as soon as operation commenced after LASEMA’s Response Team secured the articulated vehicle and its contents, cordoning off the entire area surrounding the accident site.
The LASEMA Response Team’s first action at Ojodu – Berger axis of Lagos inward Otedola Bridge, at about 5:15 a.m was to forestall secondary accidents and incidents.
Though the fire was extinguished without recording any casualties, injuries or fatalities, however, investigations conducted by the LASEMA Response Team at the incident site revealed that the fire broke out when the oil tanker experienced tyre combustion (burst tyres) while in motion.
Further investigations showed that the trucks tyres caught fire due to continuous motion of the truck, and that this in turn led to the outbreak of fire which was attributed to the heat generated by the motion.
Describing the fire as “no incident”, the DG/CEO LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said despite its very potent and real danger, LASEMA had dealt quickly and decisively with the situation.
He advised Lagosians to take adequate precautions to mitigate against fire incidents in their homes and offices, especially in the yuletide season, with emphasis on prevention of fires resulting from electrical power surge, which he observed has been on the increase in recent times with onset of Harmattan.
He mentioned that an electrical power surge was being combated at 22, Tonade Street, off Kodesoh Street, opposite Juli Pharmacy, in Ikeja by another combined team of the LASEMA Fire and Response Team, respectively.
The DG said that the Lagos State Fire Service, and LASEMA’s Fire and the Response Team were still on ground at the Ojodu – Berger, Otedola Bridge incident to prevent occurrence of a secondary accident and incident where efforts have been made to plug oil leaks, and fix the the tyres of the oil tanker.
Still speaking on the eight rooms mud house bungalow that was gutted by fire due to electrical power surge when power was restored in the Ikeja area, the LASEMA boss stated that it was pertinent to note that the just concluded operation at Ikeja where the fire has been completely extinguished, with dampening still ongoing, would still have been at the mercy of fire if it had been left pending had it been that LASEMA had just one response team.
He clarified that while the combined teams of LASEMA Rescure, Fire and LASG Fire Services were monitoring and ensuring safety at the Ojodu – Berger, Otedola Bridge axis, where the oil tanker tyre has been fixed, and leaving the road free for vehicular movements, another LASEMA combined team had combated the electrical fire in Ikeja axis, with various other LASEMA teams primed and on standby in LASEMA’s three zones and three units stationed in the six senatorial districts of Lagos to forestall emergencies despite the Agency’s operations at two locations simultaneously.
The DG added that the Agency was responding to a third incident of a fallen truck at Omole round about, inward Ogba, while the first two combined teams are yet to return to base.
