No fewer than 62 persons lost their lives to fire incidents and building collapses across Lagos State between January and June 2025, according to a new report by the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LSFRS).
The grim figure was contained in the agency’s mid-year activity report released on Monday, detailing emergency responses and casualty statistics for the first half of the year.
According to a statement by the LSFRS Senior Public Affairs Officer, Maria Fadairo, the service responded to a total of 1,072 emergency incidents during the period under review. These included 922 fire outbreaks, two minor explosions, 10 building collapses (eight of them partial), 73 rescue operations, and 65 salvage missions.
“The LSFRS has announced the release of its Mid-Year Activity Report for January to June 2025, highlighting key emergency response statistics and operational successes,” the statement read.
The report also flagged a disturbing rise in prank emergency calls, revealing that 315 false alerts were recorded within the same period.
“During this period, the Service commendably rescued 252 individuals from perilous situations, including fires and building collapses. Regrettably, 62 fatalities were recorded,” it added.
Despite the fatalities, the fire service estimated that property worth over N64.32 billion was saved during operations, although the state still recorded losses of about N10.72 billion.
Director of the LSFRS, Margaret Adeseye, lauded the agency’s impact, linking its efforts to economic preservation and disaster mitigation.
“These figures demonstrate our agency’s effectiveness in contributing to the gross domestic product while minimising damage and safeguarding lives, the environment, and assets across Lagos State,” Adeseye said.
She further stated that the agency is engaging relevant stakeholders to address the rising frequency of fire outbreaks and building collapses.
“These efforts will be further strengthened during the upcoming Y2025 International Fire Safety Conference 2.0, where collaborative strategies for enhancing fire safety and emergency response will be further discussed,” she added.
Meanwhile, industry stakeholders continue to blame systemic issues for the rising collapse of buildings in the state.
In a 2023 interview with Sunday PUNCH, Gbola Aremu, manager of real estate firm Titan Clan Limited, blamed the trend on greed and poor technical expertise.
“The spate of building collapses can be traced to fundamental problems,” Aremu said. “People are going into the construction business and building houses without the requisite experience. There’s a big boom in the industry; everyone wants to be a real estate agent or developer, but the requirements, technical know-how, and attention to detail are lacking.”
He continued, “People are driven by greed. They don’t conduct soil tests, fail to assess whether the area is waterlogged, ignore soil quality, and neglect drainage patterns.
“These are all critical in determining the strength and depth of a building’s foundation.”
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