Fire guts FAAN fuel dump

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) owns and operates a fuel dump, close to FAAN's corporate headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos which was caught up in fire in the early hours of today.

Eyewitness told journalists at the scene that the fire started at about 10:40 a.m. No life was lost to the inferno before it was put off by firemen from FAAN.

The witnesses said that the fire, which lasted for about 10 minutes, broke out while some workers were working at the dump site.

They said that workers in offices around the scene also brought out their fire extinguishers to assist in extinguish the fire before the FAAN fire tenders came with their fire fighting equipment.

One of the workers, who spoke anonymously, disclosed that some jerrycans filled with diesel were stored in the dump .

He said that he did not know what happened but that they suddenly say flames coming out from the fuel dump.

"Nobody can explain what really happened. All we know is that we were working and all of a sudden, we saw the place going up in flames and we started shouting for help."

Mr Yakubu Dati, General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, who was also at the scene, told journalists that the fire was put off on time by the men of the FAAN fire services.

He reiterated that that the men of the FAAN fire services have been trained to effectively combat any fire incident at the airport.

"You were there when we commissioned the fire trucks and you can see how fast those firemen showed up to put off this fire.

It shows that FAAN is working tirelessly to ensure that the airport is always safe for all our users and even those that work at the airports,'' he said