Lagos fire outbreak: LASEMA rescues 7 motherless children

Babajide Williams

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, in a just concluded operation, rescued seven motherless children from a Home that was engulfed by a domestic fire, on the afternoon of Sunday, 16th July, 2023.

In a swift operation that commenced after the 1443hrs distress call received through its 112 Toll-Free Emergency number, the LASEMA Response Unit successfully rescued all seven, male children in a one-storey building, housing an orphanage/motherless babies’ home, engulfed in the fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house as a result of a power surge.

The seven male children whose ages range between one and seven, were all rescued by the LRT from the one-storey building at 7, Wole Madariola Street, off Enitan Kusimo Street, Aguda, Lagos.

According to the statement emanating from the Office of the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, “a one-storey building housing an orphanage/motherless babies’ home, was engulfed by fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house as a result of power surge which was said to have quickly spread out.

“A total of seven boys with ages ranging between one and seven years were quickly evacuated from the Home and safely relocated to the compound opposite the Home.

“Management Team of the Home informed LRT of plans to relocate the children to the house of the owner of the Home temporarily, to ensure their welfare was sustained.

“The fire which had initially spread to the storage room of the home has been extinguished with dampening down concluded.

“Post Disaster Assessment revealed that the whole of the first floor was salvaged, while the fire was contained in the store room and the rest of the ground floor was also salvaged.

“The children were formally handed over to the Deputy Director, Mr Balogun and Mrs Rasheedat Sadik, both of the Child Protection Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, who then formally handed the seven children over to the RED CROSS”.

Furthermore, the statement from the Office of the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA has it that, “no injuries, nor casualties were recorded in the near-fatal incident, saying that the operation was successfully concluded in record time”.