May 4 is International FireFighters day, set aside to remember and honour the sacrifices of firefighters who died in service to humanity, by ensuring the safety of man and his environment.
The day also emphasized on the need to train and retrain firefighters for effective and efficient service delivery.
To commemorate the Day, people are encouraged to wear and display the colours blue and red ribbons, as a way of to showing gratitude to these heroes.
The Fire service, known as the fire brigade, was established by the colonial government in 1901 with the primary aim of saving lives and protecting buildings in government reserve areas.
Upon attainment of independence the service was ceded to regional governments until 2007 when it was moved to the ministry of Interior as federal Fire service.
To make the service more efficient, state offices were created.
Over the years various other measures have been put in place to ensure the service delivers fully on its mandate.
A Director at the centre for disaster risk management, Ahmadu Bello University, Dr Usman Kibon who spoke on ways to strengthen the Fire Service emphasized that deployment of modern technology and quality training of personnel remained the best option for the service to achieve its objective.
Dr Kibon also called on Federal Government to enforce construction regulations in a way that gives easy access to buildings and service areas during emergencies.
According the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola the Buhari administration was determined to make the service a world class safety management Agency.
“The Federal Government is committed to saving lives and property and will not relent in its efforts towards building policies and resources and strategies for a safer Nigeria. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has consistently ensured that the FFS is adequately equipped to carryout it’s mandate”, the Minister said.
The Controller General, Federal Fire Service, Dr Liman Ibrahim on his part noted that the Service has saved many lives including property worth trillions of naira in just one year.
“We responded to 3,555 Fire calls in the year 2020. Lives saved 1,453, property saved one point four trillion and property lost thirty two point one two billion across the Country,” the CG said.
Dr Ibrahim called on Nigerians to always cooperate with Fire fighters to serve them in a professional manner
FRCN
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