LASEMA rescues seven children from Lagos orphanage house fire

On Sunday afternoon, a house fire at an orphanage in the Aguda region of Lagos State resulted in the rescue of seven children.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) reported that after receiving an emergency call at around 2.43 p.m. through the toll-free number 112, it quickly travelled to the one-story structure holding several motherless infants.

According to sources, a power surge at the exact property, which is located at 7, Wole Madariola Street, off Enitan Kusimo Street, Aguda, Lagos, caused an air conditioning unit in the home to catch fire.

The agency's Director-General, Mr. Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, was quoted as saying in a statement from the Office of the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA: "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 a power surge and 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.

“[The} 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,” the statement.

The statement signed by LASEMA spokesman, Mr Nosa Okunbor, further said, “No injuries or casualties were recorded in the near-fatal incident, saying that the Operation was successfully concluded in record time.”