Fire wreaks havoc in Lagos ;burnt 4 houses , 23 hospitalized

No fewer than four houses were razed, while 23 students of Lagos State School of Nursing and Midwifery in Igando fainted yesterday due to a fire outbreak at a dumpsite close to the Alimosho General Hospital housing the two schools.

 It was gathered that the students, who were alleged to be asthmatic, had arrived early for lectures, but inhaled fumes emanating from the burning dumpsite, which had already enveloped the entire hospital premises.

Thousands of residents were thrown in disarray in the area due to the fire outbreak.

The fire, which started on Sunday, has not been put off as at yesterday morning.

 It was learnt that many residents had gone to worship at their various religious centres when the fire began to spread.

At the General Hospital, Igando, patients were discharged to avoid disaster as the premises was covered with smoke. Almost all members of staff of the hospital were wearing nose mask.

A staff member of the hospital who refused to mention her name said: “Public servants are not allowed to speak to the press, but the patients have been asked to leave the hospital because of their safety.”

At the gate, a security woman was turning back pregnant women who had come to the hospital for their routine pre-natal care.

“Please go home, smoke is everywhere. We want to avoid another crisis here,” she said.

Daily Sun saw seven of the students being moved from the hospital supported with oxygen to another facility.

A middle-aged personnel at the school later told Daily Sun that “23 students have been affected and we have moved  to Ikeja General Hospital. Though we have not recorded any death, two of the students are in critical condition.”

An eyewitness said that he noticed the fire on Sunday afternoon as smoke took over the sky of the environs.

He said: “I was sleeping in the room when someone came to tell me that the dumpsite had caught fire. I made effort to call the emergency line and what they told me was that they were coming.”

Another eyewitness said the fire fighters from Alimosho arrived late to the scene and complained of shortage of water.

According to him, “the firefighters came but there was not enough water. They had to go back to their office to bring more water. The fire is from the LAWMA site and we had been telling them before the incident, but all our pleas turned on deaf ear.”

Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) uses the site as dump for its refuse and condemned tyres. There has been a row between LAWMA and the residents in the past, but the practice continued unabated according to the residents.