Fire engulf Federal Secretariat, Abuja

Abuja – A combined team of Federal Fire Service and FCT Fire Service, on Thursday put out a fire which engulfed part of the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.

The fire started at about 1.45 p.m and affected the 5th and 6th floors of phase three of the secretariat, which housed the Federal Ministry of Education.

As at the time of the incident, the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, was holding meeting with Principals of Unity Schools from across the country.

The meeting ended abruptly as the minister and other officials were immediately evacuated from the building. Mr Collins Elechi, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Fire Service, confirmed the incident and said there were no casualties.

“We cannot ascertain the cause of the fire now until later. It started from the 5th floor and remained between it and the 6th floor. “As you can see, the fire has been put off, we curtailed it from spreading to adjourning property,’’ Elechi said.

The fireman, however, complained that the building had no hydrant. “There is need for a functional hydrant in this building, we could not see one; we are not of course indicting the occupants of this building, but that is one of the challenges we met,’’ he said.

Also, Mr Labaran Haman, the Research and Rescue Officer, National Emergency Management Agency, said investigation to determine the cause of the fire was ongoing.

Hamman said that rescue teams including NEMA and fire servicemen responded swiftly but had problem controlling the crowd. The files, furniture and other office equipment were destroyed by the fire. (NAN)

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/fire-engulf-federal-secretariat-abuja/