Nigeria: of fire safety and fire fighting

[Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth]

  Nigeria {of fire safety and fire fighting

By Augusine Togonu-Bickerstrth

There are fire accidents in Nigeria reported almost weekly and nothing significant seems to be going on  as far as fire prevention is concerned in nigeria/

In the Uk fire safety is serious business. For instance, when you are visiting an

 organization for the first time say, for an interview its part

Of the standard practice that you are  shown  where to turn to just in case there is a fire,

     Secondly all public buildings are to have in place  clearly visible instructions on fire.   fire doors, fire extinguishers,fire alarms and assembly points in case of fire . so its a win win situation a lot of jobs are created along the value chain of the fire industry and  UK is safer for it and richer for it.

          Every wednesday at my institution, ThE University of East London, there is a fire drill. By the security department  ,the fire alarm goes on  and the whole buildings areas evacuated so that the occupants  move to the  assembly point  to ensure     know what to do in case there is a fire

.you can see at strategic locations on all floors, instructions on the walls of university of est london of what action to take if there is a fire.

You have to use the right fire extinguisher. for fire extinguishers are selected not arbitrarily but on the basis of a fire risk assessment.

There are six classes of fire{ See firerisk.co.uk} labeled A to F

The first are combustible materials  fires .as a result of paper,plastic  straw, coal, textile and furniture

The second class of fires are flammable liquids like petrol,diesel turpentine, paraffin , paint and ethanol etc

The third type of fires are flammable gasses like prp[ane butane etc

The fourth type of fire are combustible metals like magnesium,lithium aluminium  ec

The fifth electrical fires  from computers, tV . poor wiring etc

The sixth are cooking oils fires